Path To Hokage
by Ghoul-Warrior
Summary: Naruto returns from his three year training trip and is ready to fight against the criminal organization: The Akatsuki. Naruto will be realistically powerful and will not have god like powers. More information will be provided in Chapter 1. Will have a focused pairing of NarutoXTemari. Continuation of story is determined by public feedback. So don't forget to review!
1. Chapter 1 Hate At First Sight

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**AN: Yes, I'm finally working on this story! I've wanted to start on this for a while and now I am! For the readers who read my other story "A Fateful Destiny" rest assured that I will eventually get back to it, but as of right now I want to focus on this one first. I have to mention that the beginning of this story will somewhat follow the canon similarly. However, the story will start to branch out once we get past this chapter. I'm excited to write about Naruto and Temari as a pair since I absolutely love this pairing and there doesn't seem to be enough good Fics with them in it. But it won't be all lovey dovey right away. No, that's just unrealistic and what I believe to be not true to how they would both act to one another because of their individual personalities. Well I hope you enjoy this Fic and see you at the bottom ;) **

* * *

**Chapter 1: Hate At First Sight**

"Uh what's your name again?" A tall blond-haired whiskered boy asked sheepishly to the now irritated Suna Kunoichi.

"You don't remember me?" The female asked in a raised voice with utter disbelief. _"How the hell does this kid not remember me after all these years? Speaking of which, where has this brat been this whole time anyways?" _The lady's thoughts were soon interrupted by a commanding feminine voice.

"Naruto, you won't find your opponent in here. You'll find him outside." Lady Tsunade said while directing everyone's attention to the outside window. Curious to whom she was talking about, Naruto walked across the Hokage's room to the window and peered outside of it.

"Kakashi-Sensei?" Naruto asked surprised to see his old time Sensei and friend just casually sitting outside the office window.

"Yo! Been a long time huh Naruto?" Kakashi said while giving Naruto his well known eye-smile.

"Yup, speaking of which I have something to give you hehe." Naruto giggled before reaching for his back pouch. Kakashi could only look on with suspicion before he could see what Naruto was going to give him. When Naruto did pull it out Kakashi instantly recognized that it was a book and not just any perverted book.

"Is-Is that the first new issue of the _**Make-Out Series **_in three years?" Kakashi squeaked out from complete shock.

"Yup, but if you ask me it's pretty boring." Naruto said while handing over the precious book to the now shaking Kakashi.

"Ahem!" A loud cough brought the two Shinobi's from their joyful reunion. "Now that you two know who your opponent is I-" But she was quickly interrupted by her attentive apprentice.

"Wait, you mean both me and Naruto are fighting Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked quizzically. Lady Tsunade nodded her head and waited patiently until she knew that Sakura wouldn't interrupt her again.

"Actually I was thinking that we should do this little spar later. I mean Naruto, you just got back from your long training trip and you must be tired." Kakashi stated while turning to leave.

"Are you kidding Kakashi-Sensei? I've been waiting to show off what I've learned these past few years, and I'll be damned if such a minor nuisance such as being tired is going to stop me from fighting you!" Naruto exclaimed with absolute exuberance.

Kakashi couldn't help but to sweat-drop at his former student's flamboyant nature. Thinking fast, Kakashi came up with the perfect excuse, "Even so, I still have to work on one of my **NEW **Jutsu's that I want to use against you both. So now I take my leave. Oh and I'll meet you both at the training grounds. So long!" And with that Kakashi jumped off the Hokage's Office window.

"Jeez he seemed to be in quite a hurry." The blond haired Sannin remarked while turning her chair around soon noticing that both Temari and Shikamaru were still awkwardly standing in the doorway. "Sorry about that you two. I just remembered you were gonna hand over something to me?" Lady Tsunade asked to Shikamaru trying to break the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"Yeah, here's the paperwork you requested for regarding the Chunin Exams." He answered while walking across the room to the Hokage's desk and quickly handing off the paperwork to the Hokage.

"Damn it with all this paperwork! I think I'm starting to go blind from seeing all this blinding white pile of paper stacked on my desk!" She yelled while slamming her head down hard onto her desk, which slightly created some fissures within the wooden desk's foundation.

"Hahahaha look Granny I think your starting to go senile!" Naruto pointed at Tsunade while roaring with laughter.

"You think getting old is funny punk?" The now enraged Hokage yelled back while furiously trying to get out of her chair which only resulted in the chair being thrown at dangerous speeds at another Sannin.

"_Oh Kami! Why is it always me?" _Jiraiya whimpered before getting blasted by the speeding chair.

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Tsunade yelled before grabbing a piece of cloth from Naruto's clothing. "HOLD STILL AND TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE A MAN!" She said while desperately trying to contain a now frantic Naruto.

"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU UGLY OLD HAG!" Naruto shrieked while kicking and screaming in all direction. Suddenly he felt some slack and his clothes soon gave way from the spontaneous slack that he felt from Tsunade's tight gripped hold. Naruto slowly looked up in curiosity and soon regretted that action. There was Lady Tsunade still as a stone. Her blonde flowing hair covered her face so that it was unreadable. But her whole body was slightly trembling and her hands were unconsciously shaking. She suddenly lifted her head up and looked Naruto dead in the eye which only made our blonde haired Shinobi gulp in fear of the impending doom that he unknowingly had put himself in.

"I'm an ugly old hag eh?" She said in a sickeningly sweet voice with a very large grin forming across her face. Suddenly she lifted her right hand up and made a quick hand-sign. Her hand then glowed with a green aura around it and a buzzing sound emanating from it. Naruto's eye grew wide from guessing what she had in mind for his punishment.

"Uh Granny I was just kidding hehe. You know I didn't really mean it right?" Naruto asked nervously. He was answered with the now fully glowing right hand slowly inching towards his lower body. "Oh come on! It was just a small joke Granny! Can't you take-" A death defying scream of unimaginable pain resounded throughout the whole Hidden Leaf Village when Tsunade swiftly dealt out her "unusual" punishment to her foolish jokester.

Temari could only shudder at what she just saw just now between the two. She was glad that her Kazekage wouldn't do such inhuman punishment to his fellow Ninja's. Actually, now that she thought about it, he would probably just kill them for any minor stupidity. _"No Temari, that was the old Gaara. The new Gaara wouldn't do that anymore. Ever since then he has changed and became a more... "normal" person." _Temari thought to herself. She hated herself for occasionally still believing that her brother was still a blood lust demon whose only purpose was to kill as many people as he could. No matter how much he had changed, the stigma of Gaara still wanting to kill her was branded into her brain. The sound of groaning pain woke her out of her deep thoughts and brought her back to the horrific scene that was in front of her. Tsunade was now casually sitting in her Hokage chair while Shizune was tending to both Naruto and Jiraiya who were both grasping their lower parts. She couldn't help but to frown at those two's antics.

"Well I think we'll be taking our leave now Hokage." Shikamaru said nervously before turning around and preparing to leave.

"You better take Naruto with you since he and Sakura are leaving also." Tsunade sighed while looking at the two idiot's predicaments.

"I'm not carrying Naruto." Sakura stated before jumping out the window.

Temari sure as hell wasn't going to carry this brat to the training grounds. But she noticed that something was off. She quickly glanced to her left and to her absolute dismay Shikamaru had disappeared on her! _"That troublesome lazy no good Nara!" _Temari fumed while face-palming herself at her own situation.

Lady Tsunade only smirked at the girl's reaction to the events and spoke up, "Ah Temari, good to know that you would like to volunteer to carry Naruto to the training grounds." Tsunade winked at the now fist clenching fan user. But Temari only ended up mumbling to herself and hastily picked up the pained Naruto and carelessly dragged the poor boy out of the Hokage's Office.

"If I didn't know any better, that moment just reminded me of when Dan would drag my sorry ass back to my house when I was too wasted to walk home." Tsunade chuckled mostly to herself while Shizune leaned back against the wall hesitantly giggling with nervousness. Jiraiya meanwhile had went into a somewhat peaceful unconsciousness only because the pain in his lower body had numbed up.

* * *

Temari was slowly making her way across town while carrying an ever groaning Naruto leaning against her shoulder. Other than having a full grown boy being carried on her, she noticed that the two of them were getting strange looks from the Konoho population. Some of the looks showed sadness and pity. Some even showed a sense of humor at what they were seeing. But there was no denying that most of the looks were consisted of pure and utter hatred, and the other was prevalent fear. Temari couldn't understand why these people would still hate the Hidden Sand Village after all these years. Hell, Suna should be more scared of Konoho than vice-versa. But she couldn't understand the looks for Naruto though. I mean, he was a Konoho Ninja, a hero if she had to think about it. _"What is up with these people? It's like they are staring at us like we're demons or some sorts." _Temari thought to herself.

"Don't mind them, you learn to get used to it after a while." A sullen voice directed her back to the blond-haired boy that she was carrying. He was looking at the ground and his face was unreadable since his head was facing down.

"Why do they look at you like that in the first place Naruto?" Temari asked innocently. There was no good reason for why the villagers should have looked at him that way in the beginning. This whole atmosphere felt similar to her somehow, but she couldn't figure it out at the moment.

Naruto chuckled which made Temari raise an eyebrow at the boy's action before he spoke up, "Gee, I wish I knew also." He grinned at a now stupefied Kunoichi.

"What the hell do you mean you don't know? You've been living here since you were a baby and you still don't know why they look at you like that?" Temari exclaimed at Naruto which made him flinch a bit from the hostile tone.

"I never said I didn't know why they look at me like that, what I meant to say was; I don't know why they **STILL **look at me like that." Naruto answered back before going back to groaning in pain. Both Ninja's soon entered an uncomfortable silence while turning around a sharp corner and trying their best at ignoring the venomous glares they both were receiving. "How's Gaara been doing?" Naruto asked out of the blue.

Temari was a bit taken aback by the question before she recovered and replied, "He's a lot better actually. Ever since that day you two fought, he's become more human in every aspect of his life. Simply stating; He doesn't want to kill all the time like he used to." She could remember that day like it was only yesterday. The battle between that blonde-haired brat and her most feared bloodthirsty brother was so intense that she knew that she would never forget that fight in her lifetime.

Smiling at hearing that a fellow Jinchuuriki was doing better, Naruto quickly made a remark, "I bet he's a very powerful Shinobi now huh?" Naruto said mostly to himself. But Temari had to raise an eyebrow at this.

"Umm Naruto? Haven't you heard? Gaara's now the Kazekage for the Hidden Sand Village." Temari informed Naruto only to witness Naruto's surprised reaction.

"What? He's already Kazekage and I'm still only a lowly Genin?" Naruto cried to himself while crouching on the dirt ground and covering his face with his open hands. Temari couldn't believe what she was seeing. Probably the most powerful Ninja she has ever witnessed was balling like a little baby in front of her eyes! Quite frankly it was getting on her nerves. She quickly snatched her fan off from her back and gripped it with a vice like grip.

"Naruto!" She slammed the butt end of her fan into the mourning boy and launched him fifty feet into the air before landing back into the earth with an bone cracking sound. _"Shit. Probably should have not done that. Prooobably should have definitely not done that." _Temari repeated to herself while sighing out loud before checking up on the now terrified Naruto.

"_Oh Kami! Why are all the Kunoichi's this terrifying?" _Naruto thought to himself while he watched Temari slowly walk up to him.

"Sorry about that Naruto. I'm just not used to that type of behavior around me." She said apologetically while thrusting a hand out for Naruto to grab.

"Yeah no kidding." Naruto replied painfully. With help from Temari, he quickly picked himself up and dusted himself off. This was the perfect moment for Temari to really get a good look at the boy in front of her. She couldn't stop herself from slightly blushing from seeing Naruto's clothes slightly torn up and seeing the exposed skin that was revealed to her. She could definitely see the ripped muscles pulsating from his body. Even more attractive was Naruto's facial features. When he whipped his golden hair around to get rid of the dirt in his hair it looked like his hair was made out of golden silk. It only added onto his features when she noticed his whiskers that she couldn't help but to squeal a bit from seeing. And then there were his eyes. Oh kami his eyes! They were a deep Cerulean color and she couldn't stop herself from being entranced by their absolute beauty. Temari was beginning to drool at the sight before her until Naruto's voice broke her out of her eye candying. "Hey why are you looking at me like that? It's kinda creeping me out a bit." Naruto asked a little nervous by the the wind mistress's strange facial expression towards him.

Temari quickly realized what she was doing and shook her head viciously in order to clear her head. Naruto could only add on to his theory that all Kunoichi's were weird and scary. "Well I think your okay now to walk." Temari stated gazing at Naruto who was now hesitantly trying to walk.

"Yeah, I think your right!" Naruto yelled out in delight, "I can't believe Granny would tear my groin just for something as silly as a harmless joke." Naruto snorted before jumping for joy since he could walk now on his own.

But Temari had other thoughts going through her head, _"Wait did I just hear that correctly? She tore his groin? __**SHE TORE HIS GROIN?" **_Temari screamed in her head, _"How the hell is he able to walk then? There's no way he could've healed that fast unles-"_ She was again interrupted in thinking by a now suddenly skittish Naruto.

"Uh can I ask you a really important question?" Naruto asked somewhat seriously.

Mystified by the sudden attitude change from the hyperactive brat, she slowly nodded her head in confirmation.

"Uh what's your name again?" Naruto asked sheepishly knowing something really bad was going to happen soon.

Temari soon narrowed her eyes so much that they could now be described as slits on her face. "Naruto! Are you trying to make me hate your guts?" She charged Naruto with her battle fan in both her hands. Naruto yelped in fear and quickly dashed off to the training field. "Come back here you dimwitted brat!" All throughout the village, everyone could both hear and see two crazy blondes going at it. One was a boy who appeared to be running for his life while the other blonde was a girl who appeared to be possessed by the devil herself. It's fair enough to say that the village that day had more than enough entertainment for that day.

Naruto and Temari had finally made it to the training ground after several long "detours" that both blonde's decided to take. Sakura was somewhat surprised to see a battered and bruised Naruto dropped off (literally) by a fuming Temari who then unpredictably began to calmly walk to the exit gates of Konoho. But before she walked too far, she turned her head around slightly and glared at the partially conscious blonde and spoke up, "And my name is Temari you baka! T-E-M-A-R-I!" She huffed out before turning around again and finally walking off.

"So that's what her name was." Naruto said half-heartily. Naruto didn't care about the whole name issue right now, he had bigger problems like; why couldn't he feel his left toe, or why did he keep hearing a loud and obnoxious ringing in his head when clearly there wasn't any bells near him.

But Sakura could only shake hear head in disappointment and had her arms crossed and eyes closed before speaking, "Your so hopeless Naruto." Naruto ears perked at that remark and he was quickly back to his old flamboyant self.

"What's that suppose to mean Sakura?" Naruto asked slightly annoyed that his teammate didn't actually seem to care about his current ordeal.

"I mean about women. At this rate you'll probably be killed by a woman instead of being killed by a man." Sakura stated bluntly before walking off into the training grounds.

"Oi! Sakura wait for me!" Naruto yelled while speedily getting to his feet and sprinting towards Sakura in order to catch up with her.

Both Ninja's soon entered the training grounds before a realization hit them both. Simultaneously, they both answered the the question that both of them knew before they even thought about it, "He's late."

* * *

Two hours later Kakashi-Sensei finally showed up at the training ground. "Hehe sorry that I'm late, a old lady crossed my-"

"Give us a break already!" Both Ninja's yelled in unison while Kakashi sweat-dropped at the two's actions. Kakashi soon guided them to the battle area and was met with a surprised reaction from his former pupils. "I remember this place. It only seemed like yesterday that all three of us were here." Naruto said quietly while being content with gazing at a nearby wooden pole that he remembered vividly to being tied up to.

"Oh that's right. This is where you had the bell test done." Kakashi smiled behind his mask. Those were the time's when the three of them were just beginning out as Genin Ninja's and were both inexperienced and naïve.

"That's when Sasuke was with us..." Sakura trailed off causing a ripple effect with everybody who heard her. Naruto was now cowering on the ground mourning to himself, and Sakura soon joined him in crying also. Kakashi gave a disbelief look at seeing both Ninja's depressed feelings.

"_I better change the subject fast or else I will start tearing up also."_ Kakashi thought before closing his perverted book up while pulling out two brass bells out from his back pocket. The bell made a subtle ringing sound which alerted the two crying people towards the direction of the sound. "Alright guys, same rule as before. You pass when you both acquire these bells from me. Doing whatever it takes." He instructed before continuing on, "If-"

"If we don't go in with the intent to kill-" "Then we will never get the bells." Both Naruto and Sakura completed Kakashi's last sentence in sync. Kakashi couldn't help but to eye-smile at the two people in front of him.

"_I guess they both have matured a lot while I was gone." _Kakashi thought pleasantly to himself before assuming his Jounin stance and Naruto and Sakura soon copied his action by assuming their own stances as well. "The test begins when I say start Naruto." Naruto could only smirk from the memory of what happened last time he took this test. Looking between the two Ninja's, Kakashi assumed everything was in order and was ready to begin the evaluation, "Start!" And with that Kakashi vanished into thin air.

(Fast forwarding in the fight since most of it is the same as in the canon more or less. Now with Jiraiya and Tsunade now who are watching the fight from afar.)

"It seems the gaki has learned a lot from your three year training trip." Tsunade smiled while watching the two Ninja's hash it out against Kakashi-Sensei who was now showing noticeable fatigue from combating two very skilled fighters.

"So it would seem Lady Tsunade. So it would seem. Same goes for your apprentice Sakura Haruno also." Jiraiya returned the compliment before watching Sakura obliterate a nearby tree into thousands of tiny splinters. "And- for better or worse- she's almost a mirror replica of yourself Tsunade." He said while wincing from watching Sakura repeatedly demolishing trees after trees.

Tsunade could only shake her head in amusement before replying back to her fellow perverted Sannin, "Hmph I hope you didn't make Naruto into a pervert like you while you had him with you for three years." She questioned while slowly narrowing her eyes.

Jiraiya could only laugh at her worries and responded back assuredly, "Are you kidding, he's nothing like me. Because I'm not just any old pervert- I'm a **SUPER PERVERT!**" Jiraiya exclaimed making Tsunade rub her forehead in aggravation from her friend's idiotic episodes.

"Hey, is that the Sand Kunoichi from earlier?" Jiraiya asked randomly while pointing off into the distance to a densely grouped bunch of trees. Tsunade then squinted her eyes with difficulty and gazed into that direction. When she did indeed see the Wind Mistress of Suna, she could only smile at the girl. Jiraiya noticing this, raised an eye-brow and stared at Tsunade expectanly.

"Yes, she's been there since the beginning of the fight." Tsunade answered unusually chirpy.

Now Jiraiya had both eye-brows raised from this new found information. "Why is she even here in the first place? Wasn't she suppose to leave tonight?" Jiraiya asked with anticipation

But Tsunade only shrugged her shoulders and waved away the question. "Speaking of leaving tonight. Since it's already getting dark out and I think it would be in Konoho's best intentions to provide her with a bodyguard, I'd like to assign a C-Rank mission of escorting her back to Suna." Tsunade said before rubbing the back of her head in discomfort, "However, all my Ninja's are unavailable due to either being already assigned a mission or patrolling the town tonight." She scolded to herself.

"What about that Nara kid? You know the one who always says, "This is such a drag." or even better, "Troublesome." Jiraiya asked while mimicking the lazy boy's posture during those infamous quotes.

Tsunade couldn't stop herself from cracking up from her friends sense of humor and began giggling uncontrollably from seeing Jiraiya impersonate the young Jounin. When she had her fill of laughter she answered back somewhat seriously, "Haha no he's too damn busy planning the Chunin Exams to be able to help out with such a benign task such as escorting a diplomat." She stated while still watching the fight in front of them.

Jiraiya then took up a thinking pose beside a nearby tree and began running ideas through his head. He finally hit upon an idea and made a very large grin which unnerved Tsunade since she didn't usually see that type of grin unless it had to deal with his recreational peeping. "I got it! Why don't we send the blond-haired gaki to escort her?" Jiraiya proposed while twiddling his fingers together in a very devious way.

Tsunade thought about it, and came to the conclusion that, yes, that would be fine. "Alright for once I agree with you on that idea. But can I ask you something?" She questioned while looking at Jiraiya's twiddling fingers, "Why the hell are you acting like that?"

Jiraiya looked at what he was doing and quickly stopped twiddling his fingers. He decided to act stupid and simply shrugged his shoulders in a carefree way making Tsunade grow a tick-mark on her forehead at her Toad Sage's childish nature. She soon heard a wave of cheering and hollering from behind her. She quickly turned around to see Naruto and Sakura each holding a bell of their own while Kakashi looked distraught and disappointed. "I guess we win Kakashi-Sensei." Sakura stated with a huge grin on her face. Kakashi only nodded towards her statement before trying to get back up to his feet. But he was suddenly met with a hand in his face. Looking towards the origin of the hand, he saw Naruto beaming at him with a radiant smile. Kakashi graciously took his hand and pulled himself up with the help from the young Jinchuuriki.

"Hey Kakashi, I hate to break it to you but I never even read the whole book, let alone the end of it." Kakashi wide eyed at the revealing information that just lost him the fight, "In fact, after I read the first three pages I just closed the book and never bothered reading it ever again." Naruto informed the now bewildered one-eyed Shinobi.

Sighing out loud, Kakashi spoke up ruggedly, "I guess that is one of the skills to have for a ninja, lie and deceit." Both Naruto and Sakura grinned at their accomplishment at finally beating their Sensei at his own game.

Unknown to any of them, Temari was softly laughing at how the fight had ended. _"I wish every fight ended with a simple one liner." _She giggled to herself before turning her back towards the combatants and leaping off the branch that she had watched the fight on. _"From what I've watched, Naruto appears to have gotten a lot more powerful since the last time I saw him. And what was that one Jutsu? It looked like a swirling spherical ball of Chakra being controlled by a... wind element?" _Temari shook her head in denial, "_No that's nearly impossible. Wind users in the Fire Country are extremely rare. But then what kind of Jutsu was that then? I remember him yelling it out. What did he say? Dammit think Temari!" _After a short moment of self berating she inevitably remembered, _"Aha! He yelled out _**"_Rasengan_! (Spiraling Sphere)" **_Wait a minute! I've heard that Jutsu before. I think it was the Fourth Hokage who first created it!" _Temari wide-eyed at the sudden revelation. This only made her theory about Naruto being a very powerful Shinobi more prevalent. _"Naruto, how much stronger have you gotten?" _She asked mentally to herself while slowly turning her gaze towards the now setting sun.

Back with the group of ninja's, Tsunade and Jiraiya suddenly revealed themselves to their pupil's from appearing out from the tree they were hiding behind. "Well done kids, it would seem that your training didn't go to waste after all." Tsunade chuckled while elbowing Jiraiya in his side making him side-step from his sudden loss of balance.

"Thank you Hokage." Sakura replied back sincerely while bowing down to her teacher. Naruto simply gave them a heartwarming grin while showing them a thumbs up. "Well that's enough for today. You all can go home now and rest for tomorrow, you all deserve it- especially you Kakashi." Tsunade winked at Kakashi who only gave a half efforted wave showing that he understood her deeper meaning. Everyone said their goodbyes and began leaving until Tsunade spoke up towards a certain whiskered face blonde, "Naruto wait for a minute would you please." Tsunade asked politely.

Naruto, curious as to what Tsunade would want, pause mid-stride and turned a one-eighty so that he was now facing her. "Yeah, so what's up Granny?" Naruto asked honestly while crossing his arm. Tsunade quickly had a tick mark appear on her forehead and yelled at the smirking blonde, "When will you stop calling me that?" She demanded.

"When you stop using that Genjustu to cover your old facial features." Naruto replied simply.

"Hmph I'll only do that when you grow up, if you ever grow up." She countered blandly. "Anyways, the reason I asked you to stay behind was because I have a mission for you to take."

Naruto's full attention was now solely focused on Tsunade, "Really? A mission for me already?" After seeing her nod her head in confirmation, Naruto asked now very interested in this conversation, "What kind of mission is it Granny? Is it a super dangerous mission? No, I bet it's a super secret S-Rank mission! Oh please tell me!" Naruto begged while jumping up and down like a rabid rabbit.

"Calm down Naruto. I think you'll like this mission. It's a..." Tsunade trailed off so that Naruto would unconsciously lean in closer from the anticipation, "C-Rank mission involving you to escort a special diplomat!" Tsunade said jubilantly, but there would be no sounds of joy coming from Naruto.

"What? I don't want a stupid C-Rank mission! I didn't leave Konoho for three years to come back and take a stupid C-Rank mission! I demand that you change my mission or else I'm going home. Besides, I have better things I could be doing such as gouging into my limitless supply of Ramen!" Naruto cried out in absolute bliss. He soon felt a dark presence near his location, and slowly turned and looked towards Tsunade's direction.

"Naruto. If you don't want to spend the rest of your young Shinobi career participating in only D-Rank missions, that especially includes Madame Shijimi's weekly mission of trying to catch her crafty cat Tora, you **WILL **accept this mission or else Kami help you." Tsunade informed Naruto with deviance while cracking her knuckles. Naruto automatically had a noticeable chill go down his spine. He gulped deeply while rapidly going through all his very limited options. Sighing in defeat, Naruto gave in to Tsunade's demands and asked about the mission details. "Oh you know it's just a simple escort that's all. I just want you to guard Temari all the way back to her home village of Suna." Naruto suddenly scratched his cheek in an awkward manner which made Tsunade raise an eye-brow at this spontaneous show of distress. "Is there something wrong with this mission that you would like to share with me?" Tsunade asked questioningly.

"Uh there's nothing wrong exactly. It's just... well... um I think Temari hates me." Naruto finally muttered out. Tsunade couldn't prevent herself from chuckling from her brat's innocence. Naruto's subtly started to turn slightly pink from embarrassment before Tsunade spoke up.

"Then this mission should be even harder haha! Heck it might even be an unofficial B-Rank mission!" She cried out with great sarcasm.

"Very funny Granny. I'm sure Shizune's always taking an S-Rank mission in taking care of your old raggedy self." Naruto mumbled while beginning to leap off towards the exit gate of the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Hey brat I heard that!" Tsunade yelled out from behind Naruto who was now disappearing from view. _"Hmm I wonder if I should've told him that she was watching him the entire time during his fight with Kakashi-Sensei."_ After a while, she just simply shook her head in opposition. _"Nah, besides he always wants to do everything the hard way." _Tsunade chuckled to herself before slowly walking back to the Hokage's Office.

* * *

Temari had left Konoho's gate about thirty-minutes ago before she heard her name being shouted from behind her. Curious as to who would be calling her name at this hour, she turned around and was slightly surprised to see Naruto running towards her. "Naruto? What are you doing out here at this time of night?" She asked a heavily breathing Naruto. He simply put one hand up showing a universal sign for, "Hold on!" So she patiently waited for Naruto to get his air back before motioning for him to answer her previous question.

"I have a C-Rank mission that I was forced to participate in by Granny Tsunade," Naruto spat out Tsunade's name before continuing on, "I have to escort you all the way back to Suna regardless of whether or not you need it." Naruto finished before fixing his Leaf headband that had come undone from his speedy travel.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I can handle traveling by myself perfectly fine." Temari announced while turning around and preparing to leave before she felt a soft hand grab her wrist preventing her from walking off. She instinctively turned around to see why Naruto would dare grab her wrist in such a manner before she saw Naruto's face inches away from her. She peered into his ocean colored eyes and started to feel similar emotions that she felt earlier that day.

"No, you don't understand: **I WAS FORCED TO DO THIS." **Naruto emphasized the last few words.

Temari cheeks were starting to heat up from the close proximity both were at. _"Why are his hands so warm?" _She thought to herself. She had been walking for a while now and had began to feel the foreign feeling of cold before Naruto grabbed her.

"Naruto. Please let go of my wrist." Temari commanded calmly to which Naruto sheepishly responded back to her command by gently letting go of Temari's wrist. Frowning at the now foreign feeling of cold again, she looked back up towards Naruto and spoke up, "Well if that's the case then I guess I can't do anything about it. Just try to keep up baka." And with that Temari walked off in the direction of Suna. Naruto sighed quietly to himself and quickly caught up to Temari so that they were now walking side by side while in sync with each others footsteps. Naruto soon looked up into the skies and couldn't help but marvel at how bright the night sky truly was. There seemed to be a lot more stars than he last remembered since he was near the Hidden Leaf Village. Temari, noticing this innocent action, followed Naruto's movement and also looked up and came to the same thought as the blonde-haired Jinchuuriki._ "Wow, I thought there were only this many stars back home." _Temari thought to herself before focusing all her attention on the path home once again. Naruto meanwhile was content with just closing his eyes, holding his head back with his hands clasped behind it, and walking while listening to the soft crunching sounds coming from underneath Temari's footsteps for direction. They both soon entered a long duration of mutually peaceful silence the rest of the night. _"Maybe this mission of having Naruto escort me isn't such a bad thing. At least I won't be lonely walking home this time around." _Temari grinned to herself before letting herself go and getting lost solely in the presence of nature.

* * *

_**Mysterious Location**_

"Lord Pein, there appears to be a slight problem." A mysterious voice sounded towards a holographic figure.

"What kind of problem Sasori?" The figure appearing to be named Pein asked while narrowing his eyes.

"One of my spies has reported that the Nine-Tails is apparently traveling to Suna with a diplomat named Temari as we speak." Sasori answered back informatively. Seven figures in the room moved around in discomfort while Pein seemed to be in deep thought about the problem.

"Yes, that does make things... complicated." Pein finished off. One of the members slowly opened his eye's revealing his fully formed Sharingan and decided to share his thoughts on the case.

"Lord Pein, I believe it would be wise of us if we delayed our plans of kidnapping the One-Tails until we have found a suitable replacement plan." Itachi said calmly while gazing around the room for any opposition.

"Don't tell me your too scared to fight those kids Itachi?" A shark skinned figure accused Itachi while receiving several chuckles from around the room from various S-Rank criminals.

Closing his eyes, and showing no emotion whatsoever, Itachi spoke in a monotone, "Kisame, it is not that I am afraid of fighting these two Jinchuuriki. It's that, unlike you, I follow through with the plans given to me. And we were ordered to get the Nine-Tails last." Kisame huffed at his partners blunt explanation and turned away from him in frustration.

"Itachi Uchiha is correct. We cannot afford to fight both the One-Tails and the Nine-Tails without risking absolute annihilation." A female member spoke out to the rest of the participants.

"I say we target the Two-Tails then." Everyone raised an eyebrow at this suggestion from one of their mysterious member.

"You do know we need the One-Tail first correct?" Pein asked curious as to what Kakuzu was suggesting.

"Yes, we do need the One-Tail, but we can still capture the Two-Tails without sealing it." Everyone murmured their support for what sounded like a solid plan.

"Very well, the Akatsuki will go after the Two-Tails first. Since Kakuzu and Hidan suggested this plan they will have the honor of going after it." Pein announced receiving a nod of confirmation from those two. "Soon, the Shinobi world will know Pein..." He declared before all five holographic figures disappeared.

* * *

**Well there you have it, the first chapter! Hopefully I made the relationship between Naruto and Temari as realistic as possible. Of course, their not gonna come off as lovers right away. Love at first sight is way to cliche for me thank you very much! But you will notice (hopefully) that their relationship will slowly but surely grow to the point where they question their feelings for one another. This is how I believe the pairing would most effectively work without a forced marriage or an ideal situation forcing them essentially to fall in love. They will fall in love by their OWN free will! Oh, and of course there will be many original twists in the plot and with The Akatsuki. Also there will definitely be more action later on in the story. Well remember to REVIEW and until next time ciao!  
**


	2. Chapter 2 The Journey Begins

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

**AN: Yep I've updated this story. Hopefully it's as good or better than the first chapter. Oh and I will answer some of the reviewers who commented on this Fic at the bottom. Well I hope you enjoy this Chapter and I'll see you all at the bottom ;) **

* * *

**Chapter 2: The Journey Begins**

A fair skinned person with short, spiky auburn hair was busy dealing with paperwork during the late hours of the night. Not that it mattered to this person, for he could not sleep without having horrific nightmares plague him throughout his sleep, which were created from his sinister demon. But over the years, the One-Tails had slowly gotten more... manageable for the boy. It became manageable to the point where the demon didn't define the boy anymore. The boy wasn't driven by the blood-lust that the demon craved for. Instead, the boy grew a whole new persona and was forever changed by-ironically- another fellow Jinchuuriki. No, Gaara was an entirely different person compared to the one three years ago who would kill just to prove his existence. Slowly, his new attitude and thinking rubbed off on his fellow peers that, during the width of time, he had attained the recognition he so craved when he was younger. He finally was recognized for himself rather and not as the demon. He is now the Kazekage for the Hidden Sand Village, and has now attained the highest rank possible in his Ninja village. The highest honor he thought he could attain until...

Gaara abruptly stopped writing his letter to the Hidden Leaf Village when he suddenly notices a sudden surge of Chakra nearby. Lifting his head up from his writing, he carefully eyes his office with absolute detail while squinting a bit from the lack of light that his desk candle could offer. Peering through the darkness, Gaara sees nothing out of the ordinary, but still knows that something is off. He slowly turns his head towards the office window, which currently has moonlight streaming through it allowing for the room to have a certain glow to illuminate it. Standing up, Gaara carefully made his way to the window so he could stare out into the sky and gaze at the moon. He always enjoyed these nights, they seemed to calm both himself and his demon. He looked down at the buildings below him and couldn't stop himself from sighing. Too many terrible memories were made down there and now they forever haunted him.

Getting tired of his guest's rather irritating game of "Hide N Go Seek", Gaara spoke up calmly towards the darkness, "What do you want Lord Jiraiya?" he asked without blinking an eyelash.

Suddenly, the air around the room seemed to all be vacuumed up to a specific area in the office. Then, a small poof of smoke could be both seen and heard in the middle of the room. "Aww, Gaara how did you know it was me?" Jiraiya complained playfully while wiping the remnants of smoke off himself.

"You reek of frog." Gaara stated plainly before turning his back towards the window, and calmly strolling across the room to his chair that he then immediately sat in.

"They're toads actually!" Jiraiya corrected to a now bored looking Kazekage.

"It's an honor to be in the presence of a Sannin, but why are you here?" Gaara asked now with his hands clasped together and elbows on his desk in an attentive pose. Jiraiya suddenly put on a serious face and slowly reached into one of his many pockets, and soon pulled out a scroll. He then casually-with the flick of his wrist- tossed it to the seated Kazekage. Gaara nonchalantly caught it in the air and looked at the Toad Sage in an asking manner. Jiraiya nodded his head in confirmation, and Gaara carefully unrolled it. After several moments, Gaara looked up and glanced at the Sannin with new found interest. "This is an assassination document." Gaara could instantly tell that it was one the moment he caught the scroll. His father, who used to be the Kazekage, had tried to have his son assassinated several times. Usually any assassination document would mean little to Gaara, however this sheet of paper had a strange insignia stamped on it that Gaara never saw before.

"You had a traitor in your midst Lord Kazekage." Jiraiya said blatantly. Gaara lifted an eyebrow at this subliminal piece of information before Jiraiya continued on with his explanation, "No need to fret my red headed friend, I have taken care of him. And before you ask who know this; Your council will notice someone missing during their next meeting." He stated before walking up to the Kazekage's desk and pouring himself some water. Sighing with satisfaction from the refreshing drink, he turned his attention back to Gaara who now looked like he was in deep thought.

"There's more you want to tell me isn't there?" Gaara asked while looking off into the distance.

"Ah your very attentive I see. Yes, there is something I wish to ask from you." Jiraiya said while meticulously putting down his cup of water. "First I must ask you a fairly basic question; have you ever heard of the Akatsuki?" Gaara cautiously shook his head in denial and looked up at the Toad Sage expectantly. "They are an infamous criminal organization consisted up of currently eight S-Ranked criminals. Their plans are shrouded in mystery, but from what I've learned from my spy network, their plan has something to do with the Jinchuuriki's and their Tailed Beast's." Jiraiya explained to a now unreadable Gaara. "I had a suspicion that they would go after you first since you have the One-Tails but it would turn out to be false. I think Naruto coming to Suna had something to do with it..." He trailed off while talking mostly to himself at this point.

Gaara's ears twitched slightly, and a very slight smirk formed in one of the corners of Gaara's mouth when he heard Naruto's name. "So Naruto's coming here." Gaara muttered to himself in which Jiraiya noticed right away.

"Yes, he is coming. He will be here tomorrow afternoon with your older sister Temari with who he was inhumanely ordered to escort back to Suna." Jiraiya added while giggling from remembering the scene between the blond-haired brat and Lady Tsunade. He had stealthily hid behind some trees and spied on the two blondes while eavesdropping on their little conversation. It was a miracle that he didn't burst out laughing because of the two's crazy interactions with one another. Actually, the same could be said about himself and the brat. Gaara looked at Jiraiya in a puzzled manner while he was giggling, but soon thought nothing of it.

"So is that all Lord Jiraiya?" Gaara asked calmly to the now hysterical Sannin.

"Huh? Oh yes- I mean no there is one more thing." He replied before suddenly looking around the room. Gaara couldn't help but to find what the older man was doing somewhat... odd. _"I hope Naruto's changed and is nothing like this man." _He thought hopeful to himself.

"I want you and Naruto to go to Kumo." Again, Gaara was a bit surprised by what the Sannin was asking.

"I can't leave my village." Gaara answered back quietly which had forced Jiraiya to lean in closer in order to catch Gaara's recent words.

"Wh-What do you mean you can't go?" Jiraiya asked in disbelief.

Gaara gradually closed his eyes and spoke up cautiously, "Why do you want us to go in the first place?"

"Well from what has happened and hasn't, I predict that the Akatsuki will target the Two-Tails since they seem to be skipping you for now." He responded back while rubbing his chin in thought. "And I've also learned that Kumo has two Jinchuuriki's who can fully control their tailed beast's powers." Jiraiya said with interest. Noticing that his listener was awfully quiet, Jiraiya glanced back down towards the red head. Gaara was now stone still. None of his body parts were even moving, and his breathing was so subtle that Jiraiya was getting quite worried about whether or not if Gaara was even breathing. Wanting to get Gaara's attention, Jiraiya coughed loudly to which, to the Sannin's relief, Gaara twitched his eyes up towards him and stared at him. He then stared beyond where Jiraiya was standing, which made the Toad Sage cautiously glance over his shoulder in curiosity.

"I have no reason to leave my village Lord Jiraiya." Gaara stated plainly before continuing, "I learned many years ago from your student Naruto that there's more to power than just knowing Jutsu's or even being skilled. That hate alone will not make you truly powerful." Gaara explained while gradually getting out of his chair. "No, real strength was, what I failed to acknowledge before I met Naruto, the will to protect those who you deem to be precious to you. To do whatever it takes in order to make them safe no matter what. I have taken that philosophy to heart, and included it into my nindō. I've made a vow to protect each and every person in my village. They are all precious to me and I cannot abandon them." Gaara said while affirming his beliefs. Jiraiya could only nod at this deep explanation from the Kazekage. _"Geez that idea truly reminds me of Naruto." _Jiraiya thought pleasantly to himself, _"Naruto, do you even know how much you change people?_ Jiraiya asked proudly.

He then looked Gaara straight into eyes since he was now standing directly in front of the Sannin and spoke up softly, "Well that is true and all, but you can't protect them all without learning more about yourself." Jiraiya then received a confused look from Gaara to which he continued with his proposal, "The One-Tails is a part of you whether you want to accept it or not. Because of this, if you don't learn more about the One-Tails, then how can you possibly protect anyone else to the best of your abilities if you can't even protect yourself Gaara?" Jiraiya implored while watching the Kazekage's reaction.

Gaara couldn't keep looking into the Sannin's eyes any longer, he quickly diverted his eyes down towards the ground in discomfort. What the Sannin just said made a whole lot of sense. Still, Gaara was a bit reluctant to entirely follow through with the proposal until Jiraiya stated something very personal to him, "Yashamaru would've wanted you to do this." Gaara threw his head up in utter shock at what the Sannin had just told him.

Gaara then clenched his fist's tightly before asking in an angry tone, "How do you know her? How would you know my childhood?" Gaara was now shaking uncomfortably and now had totally lost his extremely stoic composure.

Jiraiya looked towards his right and sighed softly to himself before speaking up carefully, "I know that Orochimaru killed your parents. Well your mother indirectly more or less." Jiraiya hinted quietly making Gaara's eyes go wide in absolute shock from this sudden information. "I promise you I will tell you the whole ordeal some other time. But as of right now, you have to go to Kumo with Naruto. Together, you guys must plead for help from the Raikage, who is currently named A, for your Tailed Beast's powers." Jiraiya insisted to Gaara.

After several long moments of pondering from Gaara, he slowly raised his head up towards Jiraiya and spoke up in a neutral tone, "Very well. I shall leave with Naruto once he gets here." Jiraiya patted Gaara's left shoulder and reassured the young Kazekage, "Everything will be fine as long as your with **him**." Jiraiya chuckled which unconsciously made Gaara grin slightly from the deeper meaning. Jiraiya then looked outside towards the now rising sun and quickly gasped. "Crap! It's nearly morning! I gotta leave now before they get there!" The perverted Sannin shrieked mostly to himself before going through several hand-signs. But he was quickly interrupted by the Kazekage of Suna.

"If your planning on peeping on the Kunoichi's while they bathe, I suggest strongly against it." Gaara warned Jiraiya while slowing making his way towards his Kazekage's desk in order to continue with his paperwork.

"Hahaha don't worry about me Lord Kazekage! I can handle myself around dangerous, angry women thank you very much!" Jiraiya laughed out loud before finishing his hand seals.

Gaara then effortlessly lifted his head up so that his cold eyes were staring right into Jiraiya's. "If the Kunoichi's don't kill you, **I WILL." **He threatened dangerously while leaking out some of his sand from his gourd. Jiraiya could only gulp and to begin to sweat profusely from Gaara's frightening glare before he vanished into a puff of smoke. _"I really hope Naruto's not like that man at all."_ Gaara sighed before he went back to his paperwork.

* * *

_**Somewhere In The Desert**_

"Are we there yet? No. Are we there now? No. How about now? Dammit Naruto, we're not there yet!" Temari screamed in utter annoyance. Last night's idea of possibly having Naruto traveling with her being a good thing was quickly dismissed the next morning. He had been bugging her about how close they were all morning, and it was currently taking all of Temari's will power not to strangle the brat right there and then.

"Aww come on! You said that thirty-minutes ago Temari!" Naruto whined while kicking sand from out under his shoes. Naruto couldn't understand how anyone could live out here in the desert while being surrounded by sand from everywhere. Quite frankly, all Naruto could think about Wind Country was that it was a barren wasteland.

Sighing dramatically out loud in absolute annoyance, Temari replied back to Naruto's comment, "Yes I did.

"So why are you so upset then?" Naruto asked while being completely oblivious to the smoke now coming out of the fuming Wind Mistress's ears.

"Because my baka escort has asked me "Are we there yet?" a hundred times during the last freakin half-hour!" She screamed before falling onto her hands and knees in total anguish. _"Why me? What did I do to deserve being alone in the desert with __**HIM!"**_ Temari asked desperately for Kami to answer her thoughts. This short period of rest gave Naruto time to think over what Temari just stated. Naruto suddenly lifted one finger, then another, and then another. He kept doing this until Temari interrupted his actions from her own curiosity, "What are you doing?" She asked truly curious to what the blonde-haired brat was doing.

"I'm counting. Hold on. One plus one equals two. Two plus two equals..." Temari's eyes were now twitching uncontrollably at a very rapid pace from the dimwitted blonde's explanation. "Aha! That would mean I asked you "Are we there yet?" ten times during the last ten minutes." Naruto proclaimed proudly while sporting a victorious grin. Temari could only face-palm herself at Naruto's counting abilities before speaking up.

"How are you even a Shinobi if you can't even count?" She asked incredulously. Naruto's grin quickly turned into a gloomy look. _"Oh crap what did I do now? I swear he's just a large child."_ She muttered to herself before Naruto turned away from her.

"I... I don't even know how I passed myself." Naruto whispered while retying his headband.

"_Note to self. If he reties his headband, it means he's uncomfortable." _Temari noted to herself before gazing softly back at Naruto.

Naruto then turned around to face Temari again and she couldn't help but to gasp slightly from noticing the dark circles underneath Naruto's eyes. _"He was just crying now."_ She realized all of suddenly.

"Everyone in the Academy hated me; including the teachers." Naruto revealed sadly which made Temari feel really bad about what she had said to him earlier.

"Is it also for the same reasons the villagers look at you like the way they do?" Temari asked questioningly. Naruto slowly nodded his head and Temari couldn't stop herself from huffing in utter resent. _"How could they do this to one of their own Shinobi's?" _She thought to herself before bringing up a previous asked question that she had asked him while back at the village. "Why do they hate you Naruto?" She asked while resting her right hand on her right hip in an expectant posture.

Naruto could only look down at the ground and make a grimacing face before he could answer her. "I'll tell you during a more appropriate time." Naruto answered back while trying to make a pathetic fake smile.

Temari could only frown at his answer and retorted, "I have a feeling we'll being seeing each other more then I would like to, so you mind as well spill it." She pointed the butt end of her fan at the now nervous Jinchuuriki who was now gradually backing up.

"Easy there Temari! I promise I will tell you later okay?" Naruto pleaded to a now menacing looking Suna diplomat. Sighing in exasperation, she put away her fan and compromised to herself that it was the best answer she could get out of him without killing the little squirt. Naruto, noticing that she had put away her fan, had to ask her a question that had been bothering him ever since he first met Temari during the Chunin Exams. "Uh Temari, why is your main weapon a giant fan?" Naruto asked innocently.

Temari couldn't stop herself from chuckling at the boys naïve nature and pondered whether or not to explain to him why she did indeed use a giant fan as a weapon. Coming to the conclusion that she mind as well tell him why, she decided to show him rather then explain it to him with words. She swiftly opened up her iron fan so that only one moon was showing much to the puzzlement of Naruto who was anxiously watching Temari. She quickly brought back her fan so that both her arms were in a launching position with the fan being held behind her left shoulder. Naruto, realizing what Temari had done so far, could suddenly piece together what was about to happen, and he tried desperately to sprint out of the way but it was much too late for the poor boy to do anything. She released her arms so that they swung smoothly across her body which made the fan create a large gust of wind, which carried our unfortunate hero about one-hundred yards away from where he was originally standing.

"AHHHHHschmpf-" Naruto cried out before he landed head first into the endless sea of sand. Temari could only laugh at what she saw, which was half of a certain blond-haired brat's lower body sticking out from the ground. After she had her fill of fun and revenge for having the brat annoy her all morning, she decided to help him out. She walked gracefully towards the now panicking boy whose legs were now kicking in all directions, desperately trying to get himself out with no avail. Once she reached him, she casually grabbed one of his legs and yanked it so that Naruto's whole body was now launched out from the ground and airborne for about ten feet. When Naruto finally did hit the ground, he rolled onto his back and began gasping for air. Temari could only smirk at the boy's pain.

"It was only one moon and I used very little Wind Chakra to execute that devastating Wind Release Technique." She told Naruto proudly while he was banging his head in an effort to get sand out of his ears.

"Wait, did I hear that correctly? Wind Chakra?" Naruto asked confused by the new term.

Temari shook her head in amazement that Naruto couldn't possibly understand it. "Yes, Wind Chakra." Naruto quirked up in excitement making Temari roll her eyes in frustration, "Oh Kami help me! Okay, every Shinobi has a certain Nature Chakra affinity that is more useful for them compared to others. There are five known basic types and they are; Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, and Water. Since I have a Wind Affinity I specialize in Wind Chakra, thus the reason for my fan. Did you get this Naruto? Naruto? Did you just fall asleep on me?" Temari was appalled at seeing the now snoring blond sleeping quite soundly while still retaining his upright sitting posture. _"Is that even possible?"_ Temari screamed in her head before simply punching Naruto across the face which sent him rolling down a very steep hill.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Naruto cried out in pain while trying to rub his now swollen cheek in comfort.

"Did you even listen to my little lesson Naruto?" Temari asked dangerously which made Naruto gulp a bit before answering back in a hesitant tone, "I have Wind Affinity don't I?" Temari stared at Naruto incredulously when she heard his answer. _"I guess he's not that stupid."_ She said to herself before asking, "How would you know that brat?"

"I don't really know. I just remembered, while off on the training trip with Pervy Sage, he said something about the Fourth Hokage and his Jutsu the _**"Rasengan"**_. He even went on to say the Fourth had Wind Affinity or something, ugh I really don't remember too be honest." Naruto replied while itching his head.

"Are you telling me you already knew about Wind Chakra and you made me lecture you about it this whole time?" Temari exclaimed in deep anger.

Naruto laughed sheepishly before responding back, "Hehe I guess that would explain why I fell asleep huh?" Naruto smiled radiantly trying desperately to subtly persuade Temari not to kill him right now. Luckily, Temari just face-palmed herself and walked away from the now relieved Naruto. "Hey wait up Temari!" Naruto cried out while quickly trying to climb up the steep hill. _"Worst C-Rank mission ever!" _Naruto screamed in his head while desperately climbing up the hill.

* * *

Naruto and Temari had walked the rest of the way in absolute silence. Each hating each other for various reasons. It was when Temari noticed her Village that the atmosphere began to lighten up. Naruto and Temari began to small talk with one another and kept talking all the way to the entrance to the Village. "Halt" a guard ordered making Naruto stop walking abruptly. Meanwhile, Temari casually kept walking and walked up to the guard, "At ease there. He's with me, he's my body guard that the Hidden Leaf Village ordered for me to have. I just wish it had been a different Shinobi guarding me." Temari smirked at Naruto while narrowing her eyes making Naruto stand in discomfort.

"Hey there sis." A voice broke the uncomfortable scene making both Naruto and Temari look towards the source of the sound.

"Hey Kankurō." Temari replied back blandly. She didn't want to deal with his antics right now especially after dealing with Naruto.

Kankurō only shook his head in disappointment before noticing a strangely familiar Hidden Leaf Shinobi standing beside his sister. "Hey there, have we met before?" He asked questioningly. Naruto frowned and squinted back at Kankurō trying to remember the Suna Shinobi in front of him. He did seem vaguely familiar, especially his makeup- "Yo-Your the Ninja who plays with the dolls!" Naruto announced creating a small murmur of chuckles around the area.

Kankurō getting red from being embarrassed in front of everybody shouted back in defense, "They're puppets dammit! And I remember you! Your that little squirt named Naruto!" Naruto then unexpectedly walked up to the now surprised Puppet user. "What are you doing?" Kankurō asked getting a little nervous from the closeness.

Naruto looked Kankurō up and down before he raised his hand in a flattened position and put his hand on the very top of his head. He then moved it across from his hand in a straight line before it stopped slightly below the top of Kankurō's head. "Dammit your still taller than me!" Naruto whined while receiving a grin from Kankurō. "Hey don't think your better than me just because your slightly taller than me. At least I don't wear makeup!" Naruto pointed at his face while roaring with laughter.

"It's war paint dammit!" Kankurō yelled out before grabbing Naruto's collar, "Admit that it's warpaint!"

"Never!" "Say it!" Never!" "BAKA!" "Huh?" Both Shinobi's looked towards their side to see a now enraged Temari swing her fan towards their heads. _"Oh shit." _They both thought before getting pulverized by the giant iron fan. All the guards who witnessed that act of brutality could only sweat-drop from the watching that scene.

"_I'm surrounded by idiots." _Temari thought to herself while her eyes began twitching from seeing Naruto and Kankurō still arguing over his facial paint while on the ground.

"Hehe it was fun seeing you again Kankurō but I have to go now." Naruto stated while getting up on to his feet and wiping off the sand and dust from his pants.

"Huh? But you just got here. At least stay for the night Naruto." Kankurō offered to which Naruto politely declined.

"Sorry, but I completed my mission. I can make it back by nightfall." Naruto answered back before turning around. Except, he couldn't move, let alone turn around. He was being held back by a pile of sand that were constricting his movements.

"It's considered rude to not say hello to an old friend while visiting his home in most places." An eerily familiar voice was heard by Naruto. Curious as to who was speaking to him, Naruto shielded his eyes from the now sudden sandstorm that was created. He instantly recognized the figure in front of him when he suddenly appeared from the blowing sands.

"Ah Gaara!" Naruto exclaimed in excitement while receiving a frown from a certain puppet user.

"How come he remembers Gaara right away but not me? I'm the only one with the war paint on my face!" Kankurō whined while Temari whacked him over the head with her large fan indicating for him to be quiet.

"Naruto, I wish to speak to you privately. Follow me to the Kazekage's Office." Gaara stated bluntly before leaving towards the desired location. Naruto, shrugging at the offer, soon followed suite.

"Geez I wonder what Gaara could possibly want to talk to that squirt about." Temari thought out loud.

"Who cares, more importantly, why do you always have to hit people when you are annoyed?" Kankurō asked while rubbing his sore head.

Temari only smirked at her brother before replying, "Simple, people tend to try to not get on my nerves as much then." She remarked making her brother grumble in frustration.

* * *

At the Kazekage tower, both Jinchuuriki's were reminiscing about the last three years until Gaara got down to why Naruto was there in the first place.

"Naruto, as much as I want to keep chatting about our daily lives, there is something we must discuss first." Gaara said while staring intently at Naruto. Naruto simply nodded his head and crossed his arm and positioned himself in an attentive posture. "Lord Jiraiya was here last night." Naruto wide eyed from hearing that his mentor had visited Gaara so recently.

"If he met with you that quickly then it must have been serious." Naruto concluded while nodding his own head in confirmation.

"Yes, it was very important." Gaara agreed simply.

"So what did Pervy Sage talk to you about last night?" Naruto asked while noticing a subtle smirk forming on Gaara's face.

"He told me about the Akatsuki. How their planning on using the Tailed Beast's for their unknown plans. But most importantly, he told me to tell you that we should go to Kumo for help with our Tailed Beast's." Gaara stated while watching Naruto's reaction to what he had just said.

Naruto let what Gaara just told him sink in before he answered back, "If Jiraiya says we should go, then I agree we should go as well." Naruto stated seriously. Gaara nodded his head in agreement before a knock on the door interrupted their private meeting.

"Come in." Gaara commanded. The large door swung open revealing a nervous Temari staring at both Jinchuuriki's.

"Uh Lord Kazekage, I wish to speak to you privately if your not too busy at the moment." Temari asked politely while bowing in respect.

Gaara glanced back at Naruto and said to him, "We leave tomorrow morning. Find Baki and he will show you where you will be sleeping for tonight." Naruto waved goodbye to Gaara and exited the room while closing the door.

"So what is it Temari that you wish to speak to me about?" Gaara asked plainly.

"Yes, Lord Kaze- Skip the formalities Temari and just call me Gaara when we're alone like this." Gaara interrupted making Temari correct her previous sentence.

"Right, Lord Ka-Gaara I mean, I was watching Naruto battle during his fight with Kakashi-Sensei when he returned from wherever he had gone for three years." Temari explained before continuing, "He appears to have gotten stronger and his most powerful Jutsu is the _**"Rasengan" **_a Jutsu created by the Fourth himself. Also, it appears Naruto has a Wind Affinity also." Temari stated proudly before glancing back down towards Gaara. But he only appeared to look very bored and this made Temari slightly upset with herself for not gathering better Intel on Naruto. "I have a whole scouting report on him if you- Why did you study Naruto with so much detail?" Gaara interrupted making Temari stutter before answering back, "Because he's the only person I've ever seen defeat you. Not beat, but **DEFEAT **you Lord Gaara." Temari explained while staring at her younger brother intently.

"It doesn't matter if he knows any new Jutsu's or even if he is slightly off." Gaara smiled slightly before continuing on, "It's who he is that makes him truly powerful. No scouting report can say that." Gaara explained before going back to his endless supply of paperwork.

Temari was confused by Gaara's explanation and pressed on, "What do you mean "who he is"?" Temari asked quizzically.

Gaara, sighing from seeing his sister not quite understanding his explanation, came to an ultimatum, "If you really want to know why Naruto is so powerful then come with Naruto and I to Kumo. We are leaving tomorrow morning." Gaara stated calmly.

Temari dropped her jaw. _"Why the hell are they going to Kumo?" _She asked herself before speaking up, "Why must you and Naruto go to Kumo?" Temari asked confused about the whole ordeal.

"It's a long story and I'll explain it to you all tomorrow if you come with." Gaara answered back plainly.

Temari thought about it, and then asked honestly, "Is Naruto really stronger than you Gaara?"

Gaara looked up and stared directly into his sisters eyes before replying back, "There is no doubt in my soul that he is stronger than me." Gaara admitted with all seriousness in his tone before resuming back to his paperwork.

Temari just stood there in thought and pondered what her younger brother had just told her. In all honesty, she was curious as to why Naruto was so powerful. She finally came to the conclusion that it would be best if she went along with those two to Kumo. Besides, Kankurō could handle the duties of the Kazekage for a couple of weeks, though she seriously doubted that he would enjoy having to do the endless amounts of paperwork a Kage was forced to do. Grinning from this idea, she knew right there and then that she should definitely go for that reason alone.

Temari quickly left the room leaving Gaara to his own thoughts. He couldn't focus on his paperwork since he was replaying his whole conversation that he had with Naruto. _"What did Naruto mean by his __**"Sexy Jutsu"**__?_" Gaara thought quietly to himself, "_Well whatever it does, I have a feeling Temari will not enjoy seeing it during our trip to Kumo."_ Gaara smiled to himself. "_Only Naruto could make me express such wide range of emotions in such a short amount of time." _Gaara thought pleasantly to himself. But Gaara knew this was a mission, and that the whole Shinobi world was relying on them to complete their mission no matter what. It was obvious to Gaara what the true mission was; To destroy and prevent the criminal organization: The Akatsuki from completing their goal.

* * *

**Well there you have it, the second chapter! Now I've been thinking about having Naruto wield a weapon so that it would complement his Wind Chakra. What seems to be the popular choice is having Naruto wield a sword, and then learning ****Kenjutsu from Ten-Ten. I don't know if I want to go that route, but you guys can choose by either reviewing or PM. Anyways, lets get down to interacting with my reviewers.**

******LadyLuxx , MonkeyFish997 , TenshikoIshida , girrr , NandoXFiles , DBZ101 , Tyber Zahn- Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter and I plan on updating regularly.**

******SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan- Yeah I cringed at that error also. Hopefully I didn't make any glaring errors in this chapter. Hope you keep reading.**

******bloodlinenaruto- Glad you enjoyed it so much, and it will be similar to the anime but yet different if that makes any sense. He will definitely have his own skill...**

****** 3ch0- Life is full of Cliche's. Eh what would I know, I don't have a life LOL!**

******Shawn2012- Glad your enjoying the story. And excellent questions. Umm first one his relationship with Kyuubi is the same (Hostile). Second one, definitely will find out about one of his parents... Last one, yes- he is a Wind Element.**

****** too troublesome to deal with- I know right?! Anyways I'm really glad that your enjoying my story and aww shucks. :D**

******Well I think I got everyone. If you want a more detailed reply, give me a more detailed review! Preferably a positive one but oh well. Okay, remember to REVIEW and until next time ciao! **


	3. Chapter 3 Jinchuuriki's Unite!

**AN: We're finally getting into some exciting parts in this Fic. Oh, and for Naruto's weapon he's going to be wielding a trench knife eventually. I got the idea from watching one of Naruto's Ova episodes and seeing him wield a trench knife. It kinda makes sense since Naruto wouldn't seem to wield anything larger than a kunai. As usual, I'll try to answer all of the reviewers from the previous chapter. Enjoy the chapter and I'll see you at the bottom again ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Jinchuuriki's Unite!**

Four people were standing alone near the entrance to the Hidden Sand Village, which was a slit in a nearby cliff that was just wide enough for people to pass through. Three of the people were standing side by side to one another while the last person was facing all three of them with his back facing the entrance.

"So you guys have to go huh?" The lone person asked with a hint of sadness in his words.

"Yeah Kankurō we have to. But don't miss us too much, we'll be back before you even know it." Temari winked at her younger brother.

"Ha! Whoever said I would miss you guys?" Kankurō chuckled while earning him a scowl from his sister Temari.

"Take care of the village Kankurō." Gaara added while turning around to leave. Kankurō nodded to his brother's request before looking over towards the last person in the group.

"You've been awfully quiet this morning Naruto. Is there something wrong?" He asked honestly.

"Huh? Oh, nothing's wrong!" Naruto replied cheerfully. Truth was there was something bothering him that whole morning, but he would worry about that later. "Well I think we should head out since it appears Gaara is almost out of sight." Everyone- except Naruto- looked towards the distance and indeed saw Gaara slowly vanishing into the desert.

"Right, off we go then." Temari declared before jogging after her younger sibling.

"Hey wait up you two!" Naruto cried out while quickly sprinting to catch up with the two who were now quite a distance away from him.

Kankurō could only chuckle at the boy's action before turning around and walking back towards the Hidden Sand Village. _"Things will definitely be a lot more different without those two." _Kankurō thought to himself before coming to a realization, _"Aw shit! I have to do Gaara's paperwork!" _Kankurō mentally slapped himself before he grudgingly began his trek towards the Kazekage's Office.

* * *

_**~That Night~**_

The three travelers had decided to rest for the night and began to setup camp. Gaara quickly made a fire and both Naruto and Temari easily set up their own tents while Gaara was doing his own thing. It took about forty five-minutes for everything to get set up before all three of them sat down around the fire exhausted from the long travel that they had partaken in from that day. They all sat in peaceful silence until Gaara all of a suddenly stood up and began walking towards the edge of camp leaving the other two people alone to themselves for the night.

Temari sighed from watching her brother's actions and carefully poked a stick into the fire, creating a small spark of ember that soon died out. Naruto could only gaze at her with sympathy before talking to her in a calm tone.

"He still can't sleep I'm guessing?" He asked which made Temari bite her lip in frustration.

"Yeah, even though he's gotten better with his demon inside him, he is still ruthlessly tormented by it day and night." Temari answered back while taking a quick glance towards where Gaara was moments ago. "I don't know exactly why we're going to Kumo, only that it has something to do with helping Gaara control his Tailed-Beast." Naruto studied the older girl's face and noticed that it was showing pain and sadness for her brother's ordeal. Coming to the conclusion that it was time to tell her his secret, he poked Temari's left shoulder to get her attention. She instinctively turned her body around so that it was facing Naruto's and looked at him questioningly.

"Remember when you asked me why the villagers hated me?" Naruto asked making Temari go back into thought. She quickly remembered and nodded her head back at Naruto who continued with his explanation, "Well the reason they hate me is for the same reason's the people in The Hidden Sand Village used to hate Gaara. They hate me because I am the container of the Nine-Tailed Fox. I am like your brother, I am also a Jinchuuriki." Temari suddenly wide-eyed from hearing that Naruto was just like her brother. It all made sense to her now. The reason Naruto could heal so fast was because of the Kyuubi. But most importantly, it was the reason why Naruto was so powerful. _"Is this the reason why Naruto's so powerful?" _Temari asked herself. She noticed that Naruto was staring at her expectantly and immediately felt rude for not saying anything immediately after Naruto confessed such a personal secret.

"I bet you hate me now." Naruto stated while glancing back towards the fire when he received no answer from Temari. He swiftly got an unexpected answer from her in the form of a smack to the head from the now irritated Suna Kunoichi.

"Baka! Don't be so ridiculous! I don't hate you at all, even if you do have a demon sealed inside you. I've been living with a Jinchuuriki for seventeen years now, so of course I don't hate you!" Temari exclaimed to a now stunned Naruto.

"Really? You don't hate me?" Naruto asked cautiously making Temari shake her head in disbelief.

"I've never hated you Naruto. It's true you do get on my nerves from time to time, but that doesn't mean I hate you. I would have to be quite a cynical person to hate you for those reasons." She laughed making Naruto crack a small smile. "Besides, if I really hated you, you would have been dead a looong time ago." Temari confessed while putting an emphasis on the word "long". Naruto sheepishly chuckled at her words and slowly turned his head back so that he was now looking back at the fire.

"So if both you and Gaara are Jinchuuriki's, then how can Kumo possibly help you with your Tailed-Beast's?" She questioned while staring at Naruto. Naruto rubbed his chin in thought and glanced back up towards Temari.

"I don't know how exactly. But Pervy Sage did mention that Kumo has two Jinchuuriki's who can fully control their Tailed-Beast's powers and use them fully at their whim." Naruto answered back, "I'm guessing that the Pervy Sage wants us to ask for help from them and ask them to teach us how to control our Tailed-Beast's powers." Temari nodded her head in understanding. _"If Naruto and Gaara were to learn to use their demon's powers, they would be exponentially more powerful then they currently are now." _Temari thought intelligently to herself.

Hearing a yawn escape from her fellow blonde, Temari made a smirk and spoke up, "Well it looks like our little hyperactive brat is getting sleepy." She pointed out mischievously making Naruto shake his head in annoyance.

"Whatever, I'm going to bed. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Naruto said while quickly getting up from his seated position and walking drowsily towards his tent. Temari could only giggle from seeing how Naruto was walking and also decided to herself that she too would be going to sleep soon.

"So what did you two talk about while I was gone?" A calm voice interrupted Temari's thoughts. She immediately looked towards the source of the voice and found Gaara with his arms crossed and eyes closed standing behind the fire place with an attentive posture.

"Eh, nothing much Gaara. We just chatted about frivolous things that's all." Temari replied back while shrugging her shoulders in indifference.

"I see." Gaara then sat down next to his sister and joined her in watching the fire. Temari lifted an eyebrow at this but thought nothing of it. The two Suna siblings sat there for a while longer before Temari excused herself for bed and retired off towards her tent. But before she left, she noticed a Leaf Headband lying flat on the ground. Frowning a little from seeing Naruto's headband on the ground, she casually picked it up and decided that she had better return it to him before the dimwitted Shinobi forgot about it. She then walked towards Naruto's tent and unzipped the flap that was acting as the door to his tent. When she peered inside she could instantly hear the obnoxious snoring coming from the whiskered faced blonde. She glanced towards where Naruto was sleeping and couldn't help but to smile genuinely from seeing the peaceful look on Naruto's face while he was sleeping. Remembering why she was in there in the first place, she carefully tossed his headband so that it would softly land on his stomach and then she exited the tent. Naruto simply turned his body so that he was now lying on his left side and continued on with his loud snoring.

Gaara was left all alone to his thoughts when Temari had retired to her tent for the night. Gaara knew it would take about three days until they arrived at The Hidden Cloud Village, so he would expect to be alone like this for the next two nights. Gaara had heard the entire conversation between Temari and Naruto. He also knew why Naruto was acting so strange that morning. _"He's afraid that he might not be able to control his Tailed-Beast." _Gaara thought quietly to himself. It would be horrific if the one thing he was trying to get powerful from, in order to protect everyone he held dear, ended up hurting them instead. This had happened to Gaara several years ago and had forever scarred him. Even though he voluntarily allowed the Tailed-Beast to run rampant inside his body, he now shivered at the memories of killing countless innocent Shinobi's while he was engulfed in his blood-lust, and his need to prove his existence. If only he knew earlier that the only thing he needed in order to prove his existence was to protect everyone he held precious to him.

"_I will protect Naruto from himself."_ Gaara promised himself before getting up again and leaving the campsite for his nightly walk.

* * *

_**~Somewhere Near Kumo~**_

"Dammit! How much closer are we to Kumo, Kakuzu?" A man wielding a Triple-Bladed Scythe on his back demanded with aggravation. Two cloaked figures were walking side by side to one another while one of the figures was dragging a body carelessly behind him.

"Patience Hidan, it doesn't matter how fast we get there, the Two-Tails won't be going anywhere anytime soon." The man dragging the lifeless body replied back coldly.

"Yeah, well I would agree with you if not for the fact that we had to take a slight "detour" to obtain your "precious" bounty!" Hidan snapped back sarcastically towards Kakuzu. This made Kakuzu stop cold in his tracks. Hidan, being slightly ahead of his partner, turned around in exasperation from noticing that his partner had stopped. "Now what?"

"Did I ever mention that I hate you?" Kakuzu asked with a venomous tone.

Hidan only rolled his eyes from his teammates threat and replied back casually, "Yeah yeah you've told me countless times. It still doesn't mean much to me since we're both "immortal." He turned his body around and continued walking in the direction of Kumo.

"I swear, after we capture the Two-Tails, I will find a way of killing you, and I will enjoy that moment when that day does comes." Kakuzu snickered back at his teammate.

Hidan casually glanced back behind his shoulder and answered to a now glaring Kakuzu, "Geez, did you ever get hugged when you were a child?" He remarked to a now infuriated Kakuzu.

"Let's just get this assignment over with!" He replied maddeningly. Hidan simply shrugged his shoulder and turned his head back so that his whole body was now facing away from Kakuzu.

"_I should've been partnered up with Itachi. At least he doesn't say much." _Kakuzu grumbled to himself while catching up with his partner and synching with his strides so that they were both now walking in perfect synch.

* * *

_**~Three days later in Kumo~**_

"Lord Raikage, it appears that you have several guest waiting outside of your office inquiring for an audience with you." A dark-skinned young woman named Mabui reported to A. She then leaned towards him and whispered quietly into his ear so that no one would be able to hear what she was saying except him, "They are Shinobi's from the looks of it. Two of them, a boy and a girl, are currently sporting on a Hidden Sand headband while the other boy is wearing a Hidden Leaf one." She stated before returning to her original position which was standing directly in front of the Raikage.

Rubbing his chin in thought, A finally came to a decision and motioned for his assistant to let them in. She politely bowed and quickly left to let the foreigners in. When the three Shinobi's entered his office, the Raikage couldn't prevent himself from letting out a small gasp. Standing in front of him were two Jinchuuriki's. One housing the One-Tail's and the other holding the Nine-Tails. He hastily waved his hand toward Mabui, indicating to her to leave the room immediately. She nodded her head in confirmation and quickly exited the office.

"Hey there- Why are you here?" A interrupted Naruto making him pause mid sentence.

Gaara stepped forward and and replied back in a calm tone, "We have come to seek assistance from you Lord Raikage." This made A raise an eyebrow and tap his fingers rapidly on his desk. Naruto felt uneasy, and had a feeling that their plea for help wouldn't go as smoothly as he was hoping it would go.

Naruto took this moment of silence to chime in with his own details, "Pervy Sage told us to ask you for help so that maybe you would help train us control our Tailed-Beast's." Naruto stated before being answered with silence from the Raikage.

After several uncomfortable moments, A spoke up, "Is the Pervy Sage that you speak of happen to be Lord Jiraiya? One of the three famous Sannin?" A commanded making Naruto nod his head in affirmation. "Well in that case-" A suddenly appeared directly in front of Naruto and was now grasping the collar to his shirt. "Where is that little toad bastard? He stole one of my telescopes the last time he was here!" A bellowed which made Naruto shake in fear from the killer intent that was currently pouring out of the Raikage's eyes.

"I don't know! He's probably peeping on some women in a bathhouse or something." Naruto whimpered out while holding his arms out instinctively for protection. But A unexpectedly stopped being angry and slowly let go of Naruto's collar, and began roaring with laughter much to the confusion of everyone in the room.

"Hahahahaha! I guess the fool does have a better reason for having my telescope then I do." A cried out while wiping his eyes from the tears that had leaked from his laughter. Everyone except Gaara sweat-dropped from listening to the Raikage's explanation.

"So will you help us?" Gaara solicited while never looking away from the Raikage's eyes.

After A was done laughing, he slowly turned towards Gaara and answered back in a serious tone, "Well young Kazekage, it means little whether or not I should have you trained. It's up to Killer B and Yugito on whether or not they want to train you." A advised the two Jinchuuriki's. Noticing the confused looks on their faces, he quickly answered their obvious question, "That's our two Jinchuuriki's names." He then hollered for Mabui to come in which she quickly obliged and was soon in the room. "I want you to bring B and Yugito up here now." Mabui then nodded her head and left to retrieve the two Jinchuuriki's.

Moments later, two people walked into the Raikage's office. One was a dark-skinned muscular man with white hair (blonde in the anime) and sporting a goatee. The other was a blond-haired lady with dark eyes and wearing a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants. The lady bowed her head towards the Raikage while the man beside her gazed around the room with the look of disinterest. The lady quickly elbowed the man in the gut, signaling for him to bow also, but he just shrugged it off and continued looking around the room.

Sighing, she glanced towards the strangers who were now staring at them with interest. She noticed that two of them were from Suna because of their headbands and that the other boy was from Konoha- She then darted her eyes back towards the lone Konoha Shinobi and began looking him up and down. Naruto, feeling the lady's intense stare, began to shuffle his feet in discomfort. He was even more shocked when the said lady rushed up to him and began stroking his whiskers.

"Oh my Kami! You're so cute!" The lady purred out making Naruto go stiff as a board from complete bewilderment. This made the other girl in the room clench her fist in alarm. The lady, quickly noticing Temari's killer intent aimed towards her, smirked and slowly leaned into Naruto's ear and whispered, "And what is your name handsome?" She cooed which made the blonde Kunoichi even more furious.

"Uh... my name is...um... Naruto." He struggled to say while taking in a large gulp.

The lady only grinned and said, while twirling her hair flirtatiously, "Well Naruto, my name is Yugito." She winked back towards Naruto whose face was now turning a sharp shade of red.

That was all Temari could handle. She began to walk towards Yugito while slowly drawing her fan out. "Huh? And who might you be little girl?" Yugito asked dryly soon noticing that Temari was getting closer to her.

Temari stopped her walking and looked her back in the eye, "My name is Sabaku no Temari." She replied dangerously. But Yugito simply shrugged her shoulder in indifference making Temari even more mad than she previously was.

"So, Temari of the desert, what are you like Naruto's girlfriend or something?" Yugito pointed to Temari then towards Naruto in an asking manner.

This made Temari turn slightly red and she hastily stuttered out her answer, "O-Of course not! That is completely preposterous!" She exclaimed, "As if I would be involved with him of all people." She huffed out before turning her head away in disgust. What Temari didn't notice was a slight look of hurt upon the poor boy's face when she had said that.

"Good! Then that means you wouldn't mind if I take him for myself would you?" Yugito turned towards Naruto while stroking his whiskers again making him shudder from both enjoyment and nervousness.

Temari was just about to retort when A interrupted their shenanigans. "That's enough Yugito!" He yelled out making Yugito sigh in defeat and slowly returning back to where she originally was, which was alongside B. "Now these two boy's happen to be Jinchuuriki's and are now asking for help with training their Tailed-Beast's." A stated to a now interested B and a exuberant looking Yugito.

"Oh Kami! He's handsome and powerful!" She shrieked making Naruto rub the back of his head nervously. He eyed Gaara for help, but he seemed to be distracted by something else. _"Traitor." _Naruto thought to himself.

"Of course I'll help train these little boy's!" Yugito exclaimed while staring at Naruto and licking her lips. B only looked at them curiously but still did not say anything.

"Well Killer B? What say you?" A demanded to B.

B casually looked towards his brother and replied back in an indifferent tone, "Yo, bro why should I help'em~? They ain't nothin special so I tell'em!~" B rapped out making everyone in the room cringe at his rap. This made A have a tick mark on his forehead, and he began yelling at his brother for his immaturity. But this gave Naruto an idea.

"Hey yo, listen to me~! All I want is yo to help me B~!" Naruto desperately tried to rap out. This made B look at Naruto carefully before rapping back to him.

"Yo can't out rap B~! Watch an learn newbie~!" Both Jinchuuriki's began rapping much to the anguish of everyone around them. It finally ended when B finished his rap with a simple sentence. "I will train you, but first you must get rid of the darkness inside you." Which made Naruto tilt his head slightly in confusion.

"So do you both agree to train these two then? A asked observantly. Yugito immediately nodded her head in acceptance while B paused a moment to think. He then slowly nodded his head and walked out of the Raikage's Office. Sighing out loud, A turned towards the three foreigners, "Very well, you may train with our two Jinchuuriki's and stay here for as long as it takes for you two to master your Tailed-Beast's powers." A then ordered Mabui to show them to their compound in which they would live in for the time being. Everyone but the Raikage soon left the office and began to walk towards their destinations. Yugito, however, had her whole upper body wrapped around Naruto's left arm much to the disgust of Temari.

"Uh Yugito, can you please let go of my arm? I kinda need it for training later." Naruto pleaded to Yugito who slowly let go of his arm much to the older girls dislike. Naruto was having a hard time walking since he could feel Temari's glare piercing a hole through the back of his head. _"Sheesh, why are all Kunoichi's this weird and scary?" _Naruto thought uncomfortably to himself.

"Your no fun Naruto." Yugito pouted playfully before turning her attention towards Gaara. "So Gaara, do yo- Not interested." Gaara replied back plainly making Yugito narrow her eyes at Gaara's rude gesture. "Fine, I'll see you later cutie!" She blew a kiss towards Naruto before running off making Temari curse silently at her. Naruto simply waved goodbye and went back to walking. They had finally arrived at the compound and Mabui politely told them that she must leave them since she had other work she needed to attend to. And with that she walked off leaving the three people there staring awkwardly at the huge compound in front of them.

"Well this is definitely a step up to my last home." Naruto remarked making Temari sweat-drop. Gaara simply looked at Naruto curiously before beginning to walk into the compound. Naruto was about to follow suit before he felt a firm hand grasp onto his right shoulder, preventing him from moving any further.

"Naruto, do you like Yugito?" Temari questioned him. She didn't know whether Naruto let Yugito treat him like she did because he liked her attempts or because he was clueless beyond all Kami.

Naruto looked at Temari with a raised a eyebrow, "Of course I like her! She's willing to train us and plus she seems like a nice lady." Naruto finally answered back much to the disappointment of Temari. Naruto, noticing Temari's crestfallen face, spoke up towards her, "Why? Do you not like her or something?" This made Temari jerk her head up in disbelief. She then promptly slapped Naruto across the face making the whiskered faced boy fall back onto his butt, and rub his face his pain. "What the hell was that for Temari?" Naruto cried out while glaring at a now angry Temari.

"How dare you think that way of me you sick perverted boy!" Temari hissed while turning her head away from the boy. But Naruto could only look at her in absolute befuddlement.

"What-How am I a sick pervert?" Naruto was now getting quite frustrated from his friend's subliminal thoughts.

"You became perverted from hanging around Jiraiya for so long that's how!" She snapped back making Naruto clench his fist in anger.

"Temari, all I asked was whether or not you liked Yugito also. How the hell does that make me perverted?" Naruto asked innocently. Temari briskly glanced at Naruto's face and saw in his eyes that he truly had no idea what she was talking about.

Sighing out loud, she told him, "You basically just asked me if I liked girls or not." Naruto only stared at her like she was crazy or something.

"Yeah so?" He replied back honestly. Temari only face-palmed herself when she realized that Naruto was too clueless to know what she meant.

"Okay, let me rephrase this again, you basically asked me if I would kiss a girl or not." Temari watched Naruto's slow realization to what she had meant come across his face in a matter of seconds. She did find his reaction somewhat funny after being very upset with the boy earlier.

"Oh Kami! No, that's not what I meant!" Naruto desperately tried to explain, "I meant as a friend." Temari could only beat herself up for thinking that Naruto would think that way. Why couldn't she have thought that was what he meant in the first place.

"_Wait a minute, am I getting jealous?" _Temari thought cautiously to herself. She rarely ever felt that strange feeling since she was never really into boy's or the warm cuddly stuff.

"What did you think I meant when I asked if you liked Yugito?" Naruto asked while narrowing his eyes towards her.

Now it was Temari's turn to be uncomfortable. She rubbed the back of her head in nervousness, careful to avoid messing up her four ponytails before replying back sheepishly, "I thought you meant you liked her in a more than friendly way." Temari stated honestly before quickly looking away from the now thinking boy.

Naruto was studying Temari's odd behavior until he came up with a question that would solve this whole awkwardly confusing situation. "Why would it have mattered if I liked her in that way anyways?" Temari slowly looked back towards Naruto and noticed his brilliant cerulean eyes gazing softly back up into her own green eyes. She unconsciously readjusted her headband that was around her neck and carefully chose her words.

"Let's just say it would've been the wrong answer." She retorted before putting a hand out for Naruto. Naruto hesitantly took the hand and silently thanked her for the help.

"Have I ever told you that your one scary Kunoichi?" He asked honestly making Temari twitch her right eye in resentment.

"Naruto, sometimes your way too honest for your own good." She said deviously while slowly pulling out her large iron fan.

Naruto could only gulp in fear and feebly asked, "I should probably run shouldn't I?" He was immediately answered with a nod from Temari who then took a large step towards him. Naruto didn't need to be told twice before he hightailed it out of there. Temari was, just as quickly, in pursuit of her prey. They may have been in an entirely different village, but the end result was the same. Naruto was dragged back into the compound by a proud looking Temari who looked like she had just beaten out all of her anger out on a practice dummy.

"You two are unbelievable." Gaara shook his head in amusement while in a room Temari had just passed by.

"Night Gaara!" Temari yelled back cheerfully. She finally found a random bedroom in which to dump the poor boy off. She glanced down only to see Naruto staring at her oddly. "What is it brat?" She asked curiously while getting a little uncomfortable by the way Naruto was staring at her. Naruto looked way too nervous to tell her and she found it very strange that Naruto was blushing uncontrollably all of a sudden. She rapidly thought about the current situation at hand and realized that Naruto was underneath her, **DIRECTLY. BENEATH. HER. **"NARUTO!" She squealed making him cover his ears while he tried to roll away towards safety.

"What's wrong?" Gaara asked suddenly entering the room while looking quite worried. He rarely ever heard his sister squeal unless something was seriously wrong. He saw from the corner of his eyes Naruto cowering behind a bed which made Gaara raise an eyebrow at the strange scene in front of him.

"No-Nothing Gaara. Everything's fine." Temari stuttered while feverishly trying to reassure her younger brother. Gaara only leaned his head around her and pointed towards Naruto.

"Then why is Naruto hiding behind that bed?" Gaara asked while glancing at Temari.

"Oh you know how crazy Naruto is sometimes. I tried to yell some sense into him but that stubborn brat never listens." She answered back sheepishly. Gaara was very confounded by what was going on. He peered at Naruto who was rapidly shaking his head in what looked like distress.

"If you say so. But you two should get some sleep soon since we're waking up early tomorrow."And with that Gaara calmly walked out of the bedroom.

"_Why isn't he ever on my side dammit?" _Naruto screamed mentally while still cowering behind the bed. He then sensed an evil presence in his room. "_Please be ghosts for once!" _He begged before turning his head slowly towards where Temari was standing. A very cold chill went down his spine when he saw Temari putting on too sweet of a smile for him.

"Naruto, if you ever tell anyone what just happened now, I will cut your manhood and shove it down your throat. Did you get that clearly?" She asked sweetly making Naruto frantically nod his head up and down like his life depended on it. "Good, then I bid you goodnight." With that last sentence she slammed the door shut causing most of the door's hinges to break off leaving Naruto with a half open- closed door. _"Why is Temari so mad at me all the time?"_ Sighing to himself, he crawled into bed and quickly fell into a somewhat fitful sleep.

Temari had just gotten into bed and began replaying their whole journey to Kumo. She couldn't stop herself from smiling about Naruto and his flamboyant nature. On the second day of their trip, Naruto had inadvertently joined a dancing group while trying to cheer up a crying girl. Much to the dismay of Naruto, they had persuaded him to participate in a tournament with them. Truthfully speaking, none of the dancers were that good to begin with and Naruto in no way brought anything special to the table. And yet the dancers still believed in him after such a short amount of time from being near him. Shockingly, the dancing team didn't finish in last but instead finished in a respectable sixth place out of twelve teams. She had to admit that Naruto looked quite handsome in his absurd all orange kimono, that he had to have on or else he wouldn't have danced. Temari giggled at the memory before thinking about her current day's memories.

"_Everything was going as normal until... __**SHE **__showed up" _Temari thought bitterly. _"Why did she bother me so much? I usually never let any girl get under my skin that easily."_ She then remembered why the girl was even trying to bother her in the first place, _"And what's up with how I've been thinking about Naruto? He's just a fellow companion. A stupid one if that." _Temari laughed a little from that remark. But she still couldn't explain why she had felt somewhat jealous whenever Yugito was around Naruto. _"Sheesh, I promised myself years ago that I would never be afflicted with any boys anytime soon. But... from what Gaara has told me before hand, Naruto is not just any boy..."_ She shook her head desperately trying to get that thought out of her head, but it was too late. Her feelings for the young man were starting to become more prevalent. Yawning out loud, Temari soon decided that getting some sleep might help her clear her mind better and with that last thought she fell into a somewhat fitful sleep.

* * *

_**~Outskirts of Kumo~**_

A girl could be seen running underneath a mountain pass at inhuman speeds since she was leaving a large trail of dust behind her while she was running. _"If my information that I've gathered is correct, then the two Akatsuki members shouldn't be more then thirty-minutes." _Yugito thought to herself before another voice entered her mind.

"_Yo, Kitty shouldn't be so hasty~! This ain't no race lady~!" _Killer B rapped his warning to Yugito mentally making her chuckle at her companion's horrible rap.

"_**Yeah, slow down Kitty!" **_Her Tailed-Beast begged dramatically. _**"Besides, why did we have to leave that very cute boy back in Kumo? He could have helped us since he is the container of the Nine-Tails." **_Nibi exclaimed with over exaggerated cheerfulness.

"_I've told you before, that whole slutty act with Naruto was just that; an act!" _Yugito replied back dryly. She just needed to understand the boy a little more and had to put up a fake image of herself in order to prevent exposing any weaknesses of her own.

"_**Yeah I understand that, but I don't think the other blonde girl knew it was an act." **_The Two-Tails giggled making Yugito shake her head in aggravation.

"_**Focus people! We need to be careful while dealing with these Akatsuki members. They are classified as S-Rank criminals in the Bingo Book for a reason." **_Hachibi shouted out while trying to regain the attentions of both Jinchuuriki's.

"_Eight-Tails is right, we need to start forming a battle strategy against these guys." _Yugito suggested while receiving murmurs of agreement from both Tailed-Beasts.

"_Wait, you don't have a battle strategy to begin with?" _Killer B asked seriously.

"_I didn't have time to make one up since we had to leave quickly without having the Raikage notice that we were gone." _She replied back with vexation.

"_**Kitty, this isn't going to end well, we should have asked the two Jinchuuriki's for extra help." **_Nibi complained loudly while beginning to move around restlessly in her cage._** "Oh and when are you going to unseal me?" **_

"_We've already talked about this!" _Yugito scolded the demon inside her, which only made Nibi laugh even harder. _"Great, I have both a horny and annoying thing inside me." _She muttered to herself. Unfortunately, that "thing" heard her, _**"Hey! That hurts my feelings you know? And don't lie, you thought that boy was pretty hot also!" **_She quickly flashed several creative images of Naruto in provocative poses wearing little to no clothing at all.

"_Ugh! Just remain quiet for the rest of the trip will you?" _Yugito responded back while blushing slightly from seeing the images her perverted prisoner would occasionally show to her.

"_**Hehe whatever you say Kitty."**_ Yugito only sighed at that response knowing full well that her privacy meant very little to Nibi.

"_**I'm glad we don't have a crazy partnership like Yugito and Nibi have.**_" Eight-Tails remarked loudly.

"_I be in your head in agreement~! We always make each others appeasement~!" _B rapped back to Hachibi which only made him sweat-drop from his containers horrible rap.

"_**I take that all back." **_He sighed dejectedly before planning up a battle strategy.

* * *

_**~In Naruto's Mindscape~**_

"_**Wake your ass up boy!"**_ A thunderous roar echoed throughout the whole sewer. Slowly Naruto appeared from out of the darkness in his pajamas's and wearing his infamous night cap.

Yawning out loud, Naruto casually looked up towards a now menacing looking Fox, "Yeah, what's up you stupid fox?" This only made the Nine-Tails narrow his eyes at the young boy with absolute hatred before he spoke up again.

"_**I really don't want to ask you this but..." **_The Fox trailed off while pondering whether or not to actually ask the boy the favor.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked seriously. He was always in a bad mood whenever the Fox decided to pull him into his mindscape.

The Fox glanced back at Naruto and snorted out a large puff of Demonic Chakra from out of his nose before finishing his incomplete sentence. _**"Please help save my fellow kind." **_The Fox forced himself to say. This made Naruto give the Fox an inquiring look. So the Fox continued, _**"The two Jinchuuriki's that you met earlier. They have left to fight the two Akatsuki residing somewhere near the mountains about thirty-minutes away from here. We all agreed that they wouldn't stand a chance without our help" **_

Naruto's eyes went wide and he quickly asked how the Fox could know that for sure. _**"Foolish mortal, we Tailed-Beasts are able to speak with each other telepathically whenever we are a certain distance from one another." **_Kyuubi explained making Naruto nod his head in acknowledgment.

"I never thought you would care about anyone else except yourself Fox." Naruto grinned at a now infuriated demon.

"_**I don't. But my relationship with my other Tailed-Beasts is... complicated."**_ The Fox finished. He quickly watched Naruto go deep in thought and was curious as to what the brat could possibly be thinking about.

Naruto then abruptly glanced up at the Fox with a heartwarming grin, "Well it seems like a good enough reason to go out and save some people. Besides, Jinchuuriki's need to stick with one another right?" Naruto asked while clenching his fist in a stoic manner.

But Kyuubi was a bit stunned by the boy's good nature, _**"Why are you so willing to help one of my kind? Considering how I've treated you so far." **_He asked speculatively since he was trying to find out the boy's motives.

The boy simply chuckled which made the Fox narrow his eyes towards him, "I'll give you two answers. One, I truly believe that not all Tailed-Beasts are evil. Which brings me to my second answer; Yes it's true that you've treated me like crap for the most part-" Naruto glanced back up towards Kyuubi who was now glaring at Naruto, to which Naruto waved his hands in patience, "but you were always there for me, no matter what. Through all the bad and some of the good you were there. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm thankful you were sealed in me, or else I might not have become the person I am now." Naruto gazed deeply into Kyuubi's feral like eyes while sporting a large bright grin.

Kyuubi could only gasp at the sight coming from the boy in front of him. There were tears running down the boy's face, and the Fox could tell that what the boy was saying was honestly the whole truth. The Fox stared at the ground in thought and began reminiscing about an old foretelling a powerful man once told him. He looked back up at Naruto and couldn't help but get a slight chill go through his body. _"Could this be the person that was foretold to us?" _He shook his head and looked Naruto straight in the eye, and to his amazement Naruto didn't even flinch from such an intense gaze. _**"Naruto, if you really want to help us, then do what you do best. Save everyone! Start by saving my two friends Nibi and Hachibi!" **_He ordered to which Naruto made a mock salute to and vanished from his mindscape. _**"Such a naïve little boy..." **_Kyuubi thought before resting against his prison cell.

* * *

Naruto woke up swiftly and jolted out of bed to go search for Gaara and inform him of everything that had just happened between him and the Nine-Tails. But Naruto was pleasantly surprised to see Gaara fully dressed and prepared for battle. Gaara then noticed Naruto staring at him with an dumbfounded look drawn on his face. "The One-Tails told me everything." Gaara stated simply before motioning towards the exit to the compound.

"What about Temari?" Naruto asked getting suddenly worried for his friend's well being.

"She'll be fine. Like us, she's very strong both physically and emotionally." Gaara reassured Naruto before darting off into the night. Naruto, deciding on whether or not to leave her all alone, came to the conclusion of leaving her a note. He quickly scribbled on a small scroll and speedily left it on top of Temari's blanket so that she would then be able to see it when she woke up.

Seeing that everything was in order, Naruto turned towards the exit door and leapt off towards Gaara who was now quickly distancing himself from Naruto. _"Please don't have us be too late!" _Naruto begged to Kami before focusing all his attention and energy on getting to their location as fast as possible.

* * *

**Yep, well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It took longer then usual to write up but whatever. Now let's get to my reviewers!**

**NeoJubiSannin1870, spriterx, Iron Legends13, Arba- Thanks for the support and yes I will continue updating!  
**

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan- Dammit, thanks again haha. Hmm who knows...**

**Shawn2012- Hmm how bout you tell me what happens between them next from what you've read so far.**

**bankai777- Gaara's all about business. Naruto tries to make everyone happy. Temari is protective.**

**Elder Sibling- I absolutely agree with you on that! There is no way Naruto would become that powerful so quickly, and even if he did it's just no fun to write and read about then.**

**EurekaSeven21-Thanks, I'll admit it's difficult to come up with an original timeline while also making one that's believable. And yes, I was furious when the anime made Gaara lose his Tailed-Beast! He could have been a complete bad-ass. Ah, what if right?**

**NarutoDawg9406, girrr- I agree with you on the trench knives. Yes, it would indeed be pretty cool if Naruto wielded the legendary sword Samehada. Sadly, I think it would be very unlikely for Naruto to wield it since Killer B seem's to deserve to wield it more than Naruto. **

**WindStylez- Thanks for the detailed review. The thing about Naruto is, even now, it's difficult to portray him for who he really is since he seems to have so many layers to him. The most seen layer being his stupid, comedic side. In this Fic, I'm showing him as educationally stupid, but emotionally and socially he's much much smarter if that makes any sense? He also has a tendency to hide his true potential, which makes it frustrating for any writer/author to describe him through his action's that might not truly be his own. This chapter also served as a romantic filler between Naruto and Temari. She's hasn't quite "fallen" in love with him yet, but she's realizing that there's a possibility between them. Again, thanks for the review. **

**Guest- It will be a cloak of some sorts, but it won't be the gold one. I agree, I was a bit disappointed that his final phase was a freakin golden cloak?! Anyways it will be different.**

Newbiegod35**- Yep, he'll soon learn how to make a one-handed _"Rasengan" _and he will definitely learn some Wind Techniques. **_  
_

The-lazy-bum**- I guess you'll have to read the next chapter in order to find out whether or not she survives. I'll give you a hint anyways, I believe Yugito was killed off way to soon! **

**That's all the reviews! More importantly, next chapter we'll have our first fight scene! I'm not too great with fight scenes but I'll try my best. As usual, if you want a detailed reply, give a detailed (preferably a positive) review then BAKA! Okay then, REVIEW and until next time ciao! **


	4. Chapter 4 Fight or Flight!

**AN: Finally updated, sorry for that folks! I guess I got lost on the road of life haha... Anyways like I told you guys earlier, this would be the first fight scene in the Fic and I'm being honest when I say that I'm not all that great at writing it. I still think it's adequate enough to move the story along however. Oh and the Jutsu's are in English because I don't know that much Japanese, nor will I pretend too. When I usually read a Naruto Fanfic and they say a Jutsu in Japanese, I only know what element it is not what the Jutsu means or does. You'll probably argue that making it English makes it less genuine anyways so oh well. This is definitely one of my longer chapters so that's another reason as to why this took a lot longer than normal to update. Anyhow enjoy! ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Fight or Flight!**

Two figures could be seen leaping from mountain to mountain with desperate speeds and visible distress. One of the figure's distinct features was his oversized gourd, while the other figure's were whisker marks on his face. The two Shinobi's had been traveling vigorously for the last thirty-minutes until the lead figure, who had whisker marks, stopped abruptly mid-jump. The other shinobi reluctantly stopped his jumping and easily landed beside his fellow friend.

"What is it?" Gaara asked while slowly scanning his surroundings. He had noticed during their travel that their environment had changed drastically while they were leap-frogging from mountain to mountain. The surroundings were very mountainous when they had left, and now it was becoming more and more open. In fact, there appeared to a be large body of water in between the mountain ranges. He deduced that they must be in a valley of some-sorts and was recalling the name for it until a worried voice broke his thoughts.

"Did you hear that?" Naruto asked without looking back at his partner. Gaara, curious as to what Naruto could have possibly heard, strained his ears trying desperately to pick up any type of anomalies.

To his disappointment, he heard nothing worth mentioning and spoke up with curiosity, "Naruto, I do not hear anything." But Naruto simply nodded his head before glancing back at the young Kazekage with an all too serious look displayed on his face. This sudden look of seriousness unnerved the usually stoic Gaara and he couldn't help but to feel a slight chill go up his spine when Naruto replied back.

"Exactly. Didn't you say that the One-Tail's told you that the other two Jinchuuriki's were only thirty-minutes away from their destination?" Naruto questioned soon receiving a nod of affirmation from Gaara who was still puzzled about how this small bit of information had anything to do with the current situation. "Well we've been traveling for thirty-minutes now and we don't hear anything. Not even any simple disturbances." Naruto said finally receiving the look of realization cross Gaara's face.

"I understand now. So that means that they haven't started fighting yet, or else they're already..." Gaara trailed off while staring down at the ground uncomfortably.

"No, they're not dead. Knowing, from fighting you, they're still alive and wouldn't be taken down that easily." Naruto reassured Gaara while beginning to jump off the mountain they were currently standing on top of. Gaara nodded his head in understanding and quickly followed suite after Naruto.

* * *

It took only five more minutes for the two Shinobi's to finally reach their destination. To their absolute surprise they saw both Yugito and Killer B casually standing side-by-side to one another while facing another pair of figures who were standing on the body of water that was in between the two mountain ranges. They were wearing dark cloaks with red clouds displayed on them and both looked... bored? _"So these guys are the Akatsuki then?" _Naruto muttered to himself before he and Gaara landed directly behind the two other Jinchuuriki's. Strangely, the two other people didn't even flinch from the sudden appearance of Naruto and Gaara. Meanwhile, the two Akatsuki members just kept their bored looks plastered onto their faces while witnessing the immediate entrance of two more Jinchuuriki's. Then the Triple-Bladed Scythe wielder glanced over to his partner who was currently to the right of him and yawned.

"Are these also clones Kakuzu?" The yawning Akatsuki member asked to his partner now identified as being Kakuzu, while stretching his arms out in boredom.

The said named person narrowed his eyes and slowly studied the two Shinobi's in front of him. The blonde-haired brat was emitting off a dangerous aura of demonic Chakra, while the sand Shinobi was emitting some also, albeit it was less potent then his partner's. Suddenly looking at the two ninja's in front of him with sudden interest, Kakuzu chuckled softly before turning towards his partner. "It would appear that these two arrivals are genuine and are indeed made up of flesh and blood." This made his partner form a large grin and immediately broke him out of his boredom.

"Finally! I've been waiting for this moment for far too long!" The crazed man exclaimed while reaching for his Triple-Bladed Scythe. "I will offer this slaughter in name of Jashin!" The man cried out while yelling up towards the skies. His partner could only face-palm himself before he took a large step forward.

"So if you two Jinchuuriki's are here, then where are the-" before Kakuzu could finish his sentence he was interrupted by a giant fireball.

"_**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" **_A female shout was heard soon after she had unleashed her large fireball at the two unsuspecting Akatsuki members. Kakuzu was able to somehow dodge out of the way from the fiery inferno by jumping straight up and over the flaming ball of destruction- narrowly missing it by a couple of inches. The other Akatsuki member had also tried to jump over the fireball, but he was slightly slower at reacting to it compared to his partner and had suffered for it. His left foot was engulfed in flames and was severely burned from it. Thankfully for him, they had been standing on a body of water so that he could later wash his left foot by dipping it into the water. But he would not have the time to do so because while he was still in mid-air Yugito had quickly appeared right behind him with a drawn kunai in her left hand and her other hand grasping onto the man's right shoulder, preventing him from countering her next attack. "This is the end for you." Yugito stated simply before plunging the kunai that she had in her left hand into the back of the man's chest, piercing through it and into his heart.

"Hidan!" Kakuzu yelled in worry while landing roughly onto the water's surface. He quickly sprinted towards his now motionless partner who was now speeding towards the water. He was surprised, however, when he realized that he couldn't move. He looked down and noticed a tentacle wrapped around his waist. He followed the tentacle to the source and saw a funny looking man shaking his pointer finger at him in disappointment.

"Uh uh don't move~! Or else you'll lose~!" B rapped before tightening his tentacle around the now trapped Akatsuki member. Kakuzu could only resist against the ever tightening tentacle while both Yugito and Killer B quickly gathered around the trapped Akatsuki member.

"Well well well look what we have here." Yugito chuckled out while glaring at Kakuzu who was still trying to fight out of his restraint. But Naruto could only stare at the scene with absolute confusion. He looked back at where he thought the two original Jinchuuriki's were standing and noticed that they were gone. He then heard a cough coming from his other direction and looked towards the source of the sound. He saw Yugito waving at him in annoyance, trying to get his attention. He then noticed that Gaara had slowly begun to walk towards the other two people and realized that he too should probably follow Gaara's actions and walk towards them also. When everyone was together Gaara decided that this was the perfect time to speak up.

"It appears that you didn't need our help after all." Gaara said while quickly glancing at the now suspiciously motionless Akatsuki member.

"As if we would want it anyways." Yugito laughed before continuing, "Besides, from what I've seen and heard about you two, you guys would have only gotten in the way." This made a certain whiskered face person clench his fist in anger.

"What? Are you calling us useless?" Naruto yelled out making Gaara wince a bit from his partner's rather loud observation.

"Wow, I guess you aren't that clueless after all." Yugito grinned making Naruto even angrier than before. Without even thinking, Naruto rushed towards the Two-Tail's container only to be held back by a large stream of sand.

"Forgive my friend here. He is quite naïve and still has a ways to go in proper etiquette before he can talk to anyone in a mature manner." Gaara told to the now mischievous looking Yugito.

"Well, as much as I would love to exploit your friend's flaws, I have more pressing matters to attend to. For instance: This captured Akatsuki member." She pointed towards Kakuzu who without any reason began laughing softly to himself.

"What's so funny pal?" Naruto asked while staring daggers into the man's eyes. The man could only chuckle before answering back.

"You think you have us captured little girl?" The man replied back dangerously making everyone around him on-edge. "If we got captured this easy, then it would have been foolish for people to classify us as S-Rank criminals. Alas, we **ARE **indeed S-Rank criminals." He finished before staring at the bottom of Yugito's feet with sudden interest. Sensing danger, she quickly looked down and saw a pair of hands grabbing both her feet and, without any time to react, pulled her straight down into the water.

"Yugito!" Naruto cried out while running to where she had been standing moments ago. There was a long dreadful silence that had engulfed the group before a stream of bubbles surfaced from underneath the water. Out of nowhere, a man launched out from underneath Kakuzu and sliced the tentacle holding him captive. When Naruto could get a good look at the man, he noticed that it was the same guy who he thought had been killed by Yugito earlier.

"But-but how? I saw her drive a kunai through your heart." Naruto whispered quietly mostly to himself. But the man heard him and smirked while trying to wring his sleeves dry.

"Foolish mortal. It's true that any person would have normally died from that stab to the heart from that particular bitch. However, there's something that makes both Kakuzu and I "special"." The man stated while emphasizing the word special. Gaara narrowed his eyes at them while Naruto prepared himself to attack them at a moment's notice. Breaking out into a sadistic smile, the man began roaring with sick laughter before revealing his little secret, "We're both **IMMORTAL!**" The man was now laughing uncontrollably much to his partner's disgust.

"While we're not exactly "Immortal" we are, for the most part, the closest thing to it." Kakuzu chimed in since his partner was still in a fit of laughter.

"Where's Yugito?" Killer B asked seriously suddenly speaking out much to everyone's surprise.

"I guess you can talk normal when you really want to." The man snorted before rubbing his chin in thought. "I'm guessing your talking about that crazy cat bitch correct?" The man asked before receiving a glare from Naruto who he easily dismissed off. "Well too be honest..." He trailed off, making everyone wait in anticipation before answering, "I don't really know." This made everyone wide-eye in disbelief, including his partner, who was now staring at his other partner in absolute hatred.

"Hidan! What the hell do you mean you don't know?" Kakuzu demanded making the other member scratch the back of his head sheepishly in nervousness.

"Hehe what can I say, she's a tough one to catch." Hidan snickered making Kakuzu even more furious at his useless comrade.

"Idiot! That was our mission! The whole point of coming all the way out here dammit!" Kakuzu cursed making Hidan narrow his eyes in controllable anger.

"Oh yeah? And what about the "others"? Last I checked they weren't even part of the mission." The irritated member growled out while turning his head away from Kakuzu in disgust.

"Whatever, let's just get the One-Tail's and leave because I really doubt that we'll be able to capture all three of them at once."He finalized before focusing his attention back at the three Jinchuuriki's. Strangely, Killer B began to nod his head much to everyone's confusion before drawing two swords and charging at the two figures in front of him.

"What, are you out of your mind?" Naruto yelled out in astonishment from seeing the man charge blindly towards two S-Rank criminals who would surely kill him.

"Wanna die so soon I see." Hidan hissed out before getting into his battle stance with his Scythe held directly behind his back. But Kakuzu could only gaze at the man with suspicion.

"_What are you up to Eight-Tails."_ He mumbled to himself right before the man was on them.

"Take this you impudent squid!" Hidan hollered before swiping his large Triple-Bladed Scythe down onto Killer B. But B saw this coming and easily blocked the attack from the insane looking Akatsuki member. But the attack was much more powerful then he had expected it to be and was forced to stop his forward movement by focusing all his energy into holding the Scythe back from cutting him to shreds.

"I will have your blood for Jashin!" A deranged looking Hidan squealed out while getting closer and closer to B's sweating face. It was getting to the point that Hidan was about to slice into B before a loud shout could be heard.

"_**Two Tail's Fire Ball!"**_ Another large fireball was shot at the two Akatsuki members but this time it was twice as large than the last fireball attack and twice as dangerous. Kakuzu, remembering what happened last time, acting swiftly, he launched out hundreds of thick, grey tendrils to intercept the enormous fireball from both his arms. He encased the entire fireball with his grey tendrils until it eventually died off. Calling back his arms, the only sign of damage that anyone could see were small singe marks on his arms and hands.

"So that's why he nodded his head." Gaara murmured quietly to himself and to Naruto.

"Wait, you mean whatever just happened right now was planned?" Naruto asked incredulous at the thought of two Jinchuuriki's working in tandem to produce a one-two combo. Gaara slowly nodded his head in confirmation while still staring at the scene before them. "Hey, how come we don't have our own combo?" Naruto whined while frowning sadly at their lack of teamwork.

"That's because you always go head on with the opponent without thinking. Simply put; your too impulsive." Gaara sighed while closing his eyes. Naruto grumbled and turned his head back towards the fight.

"So was that it?" Hidan taunted to a now normal looking Yugito and an emotionless looking B. But Kakuzu unsuspectingly slapped his partners head in annoyance. "Ow! What the hell was that for?" Hidan growled while rubbing his head in comfort.

"You fool! Do you want to die? Even with our so called "Immortality" we barely are able to handle two Jinchuuriki's let alone four of them! That's practically suicide!" Kakuzu explained while shaking his head in anguish.

"C'mon, we don't need his help! We're strong enough on our own!" Hidan complained earning himself a glare from his fellow partner.

"It matters little what we think. Our leader ordered us if we ever got into this type of situation while we were here in Kumo that we would use **HIM."** He commanded much to Hidan's dislike.

"Fine. But I better be able to kill something after we're through with this." Hidan sighed in defeat before glancing towards the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails. "So I guess we'll still handle them while he handles the other two?" Hidan asked receiving a nod from Kakuzu who was still eying the four Jinchuuriki's intently. Suddenly, from in between the two Akatsuki members, the water suddenly rose up and slowly began taking a human form. It took a few moments before the figure could appear fully and when he did everyone gasped.

There stood Itachi Uchiha. The supposedly last Uchiha. The one one who killed his entire clan in one night for unknown reasons. More importantly to Naruto, this was Sasuke's brother who abandoned his younger sibling for pity. Clenching his fist in utter hatred towards the Sharingan user, Naruto glared towards Itachi with absolute resentment. Gaara meanwhile was curious as to why of all people Itachi would be there in the first place. He knew Itachi was quite powerful and yet there were those who were even more powerful than him in the Akatsuki organization. Sighing out loud, Itachi turned away from Naruto and his group and lazily stared at his fellow comrade's.

"To think you would need me against these worthless Jinchuuriki's is just pathetic." Itachi spat out making both Hidan and Kakuzu grimace in resentment towards the young Uchiha prodigy.

"Don't push it Itachi." Kakuzu hissed while trying his best to stay calm. Itachi only shook his head in disappointment before glancing back towards the four Jinchuuriki's.

"You know what to do then?" Itachi asked before activating his Sharingan making everyone gaze in awe at his Doujutsu. Both Hidan and Kakuzu nodded in acknowledgment before suddenly sprinting off towards the other direction.

Yugito began to chase after them before a hand grabbed her shoulder, preventing her from immediately going after them. She glared back to see Naruto grabbing her and giving her a serious look of concern. They met eye to eye and she could understand from peering into his stunning Cerulean eyes that he thought strongly against her actions and was begging her not to do it. She couldn't stop herself from lightly blushing at the boy's apparent concern for her well being, and was also slightly touched from him caring for her. _**"It appears I was right kitty. You do have feeling for him after all!" **_Nibi purred loudly breaking Yugito out of her thoughts. _"Damn it you oversized fur ball!" _Yugito yelled mentally to Nibi knowing full well that she was going to abuse this moment and use it against her whenever she could. Shaking her head viciously so that she could think straightly again, she looked at Naruto again and could only smile warmly at sudden change in attitude scared Naruto a bit since he was not used to these sudden change of events. She gave Naruto what appeared to be a cat like grin before carefully kneeing Naruto in his "man parts" and sprinting after the two Akatsuki members with B catching up to her in stride, intent on fighting those two also.

Naruto was now groveling in pain and thinking terrible thoughts in his head about Yugito while Gaara could only sweat-drop from watching Naruto's pain.

"Hmph." Itachi snorted out drawing the two Jinchuuriki's attention back at him. He then began to aimlessly fix his hair by flicking the back of his head with his right hand. "So, shall we begin or should I just be content with watching you two fool around?" Itachi asked plainly while keeping his eyes on the two. Naruto knew better then to look into Itachi's eyes and glanced down towards the ground frustratingly. Gaara had also been doing the same thing, being knowledgeable enough to know the capabilities of the mighty Sharingan.

"Fine, if you want me to attack you so soon then here I come!" Naruto cried out before darting off towards Itachi with his left hand raised, ready to give his opponent a mighty left hook. Itachi could only shake his head at the foolish blond-haired boy before closing his eyes in disappointment.

"Have you not learned anything?" Itachi asked sarcastically before halfheartedly catching Naruto's left punch with his right hand without even opening his eyes, much to the surprise of Naruto who was now struggling to keep control of his left hand.

"Tsk tsk, it seems you may even be weaker than my disgraceful little brother." He exclaimed making Naruto tense up in frustration and continue even harder to try to land the punch. Itachi kept a stoic look on his face when he noticed that Gaara wasn't doing anything other then looking straight into the ground. But Itachi mentally shrugged to himself before looking directly into Naruto's eyes and activating one of his personal Genjutsu's. Naruto was then thrown into a chaotic dimension and quickly realized that he was caught inside a Genjutsu.

"What? Where am I? Damn it, I didn't want to get caught in this! Itachi I swear I'll kill you!" Naruto cried out while beginning to panic in anticipation for what Itachi had planned next in his little world. But Itachi, watching from a distance, could only shake his head in annoyance.

"Even for a Shadow Clone, you still talk too much." Itachi murmured to a now dumb looking "Naruto" in front of him. Hearing a swirling noise being created from directly behind him, Itachi casually glanced over his left shoulder and grinned at the original Naruto who was now charging him with a fully formed Rasengan in his right hand. "Impressive, to strategize that far ahead is pretty clever in onto itself. No wonder you did very little in the beginning of this battle, and it also explains why your teammate isn't even trying to look at me, in fear that he might get caught in my Genjutsu. It seems you have truly matured just a bit." Itachi complimented before continuing, "There is one major detail that you have failed to notice however- Shut up crazy eyes and take this, _**Rasengan!**_" Naruto yelled out interrupting Itachi's explanation before slamming his furiously rotating Chakra into the back of Itachi Uchiha, who right before Naruto made impact with his Jutsu, managed to make a smirk before getting hit by it.

"_Did I get him?" _Naruto asked questioningly to himself. He was answered when the figure in front of him disintegrated into flocks of crows. _"Shit, that means-" _Naruto then looked up to see half of Itachi's upper body formed while the bottom half was made entirely up of crows.

"Yes Naruto, you have been caught in my Genjutsu." Itachi stated emotionless as ever. Naruto could only curse himself for his recklessness. But how could he have gotten caught in a Genjutsu if he didn't even look Itachi in the eyes. Thinking madly to himself he was quickly answered by Itachi himself no less. "There are but many ways of catching someone in my Genjutsu other than using just my eyes alone." Itachi explained, "Any movement from my body, that be a flick of the wrist or simply a nod of the head, will do the job." Naruto quickly raced through his memories and remembered an odd action that Itachi had done before the battle. It was when he flicked his right hand while fixing his hair that Naruto was ensnared into his Genjutsu. Seeing Naruto's realization flicker across his face, Itachi spoke up calmly, "Since the moment I saw you, I knew right away you were a clone. Knowing this, I knew you would try to attack my blind side, so I easily cast a not so blatant Genjutsu to where you were hiding, and now you are at my mercy." After saying this, Itachi created dozens of shurikens and launched them towards the now nervous looking boy.

But Naruto had learned more than just battle strategies while training with the Pervy Sage. Slamming both his hand together, Naruto began to discharge his Chakra so that he could break out of the Genjutsu that he was currently trapped in. Almost immediately, the shurikens had begun to disappear much to Naruto's relief.

"A noble act indeed, but foolish nonetheless." Itachi stated making the disappearing shurikens reappear and finally hit their marks. Naruto could only grunt in pain since he knew that it was only a Genjutsu. But either way it still hurt like hell! "True, the shurikens themselves are not real, and yes you aren't actually taking physical damage, but know this; the pain itself is very, very much part of your reality." Itachi revealed while continuing to watch Naruto's futile resistance against his onslaught of shurikens.

"_Dammit! I need someone to touch me. Gaara, help me!" _Naruto pleaded while slowly slipping into absolute suffering. Much to Naruto's shock however, the rain of shurikens ceased to pour down on him and Naruto could only look up hesitantly towards an impassive looking Itachi.

"Before I break you, I must ask why you are so interested in my little brother." Itachi stared at Naruto, his Sharingan glaring directly at him making Naruto gulp nervously.

"He may be your brother, but only in blood! I am more of a brother to him then you could ever be!" Naruto proclaimed confidently while making Itachi unconsciously smirk beneath his cloak.

"Hn and why is that? Why save someone who doesn't want to be saved?" Itachi asked matter-of-factly making Naruto wide-eye in disbelief. "Is it not blatantly obvious? Sasuke could care less about your worthless friendship. He is blinded by pure and utter hatred. Hatred for his older brother who so willingly slaughtered his own clan in order to test the limit's of his own abilities." Itachi pointed out which made Naruto grit his teeth in fury. "Sasuke would never want to be apart of the Hidden Leaf Village again. He would like nothing more than to- That's enough Itachi!" Naruto interrupted him much to the Uchiha's amusement.

"Very well, let me get to the point then. If you had two choices: one being to kill Sasuke and be seen as a hero, or two leaving him alive so that he can follow through with his misguided endeavors and hurt everyone you held dear in the process, which choice would you pick?" Itachi asked in his monotone voice. Naruto could only shake his head before looking back up and glaring Itachi straight in the eye.

"I will bring him back home." Naruto answered back with absolute assurance. This made Itachi frown slightly before telling him his ultimatum.

"One of you must die from this." He offered quietly so that Naruto was forced to lean in closer to hear him.

"If someone must die. Then Sasuke and I will die together." Naruto answered back with a tone that meant there was no other answer. Itachi could only blink his eyes before saying out loud, "I truly hope that you can save my foolish little brother then." Itachi mumbled before disappearing.

* * *

"Naruto!" A voice broke him out of his stupor. Looking to his left, he saw Gaara's left hand on his right shoulder. Looking up towards the voice, he saw Gaara with a very worried looking expression drawn on his face.

"What-What happened?" Naruto stuttered out, still reeling from his onslaught of shurikens.

"It would appear that you had gotten yourself caught in Itachi's Genjutsu," Gaara explained, "you totally missed your mark with your Rasengan by a good ten feet and then just stood in place for the remainder of the time." Naruto nodded knowing full well as to why he totally whiffed with his Jutsu. Turning around so that he was facing Itachi again, he wondered to himself about how they could possibly beat an opponent as skilled as him.

"I hope those aren't the only two Jutsu's you've learned." Itachi said while blinking his eyes in boredom. Naruto could only grimace in frustration.

"_I don't have any Jutsu's that could possibly beat him other than my Rasengan." _Naruto thought angrily to himself. But just then, Gaara, who was standing to the right of him, took a single step forward much to the Uchiha's curiosity.

"Have you've forgotten that I am also your opponent?" Gaara asked slightly irritated by the fact that he seemed to be the odd man out.

"And how could I have forgotten about the young insolent Kazekage." Itachi mocked while switching his gaze towards the young Sand Shinobi. But Gaara was unfazed and was content with slowly streaming out a small river of sand out from his large gourd.

The sand then quickly began to form into a massive boulder-like formation and steadily began to rise upwards until it was directly above Itachi and blocked the moonlight that was very bright that night, while the Uchiha kept his stoic look on his face.

"Well, as much as I do appreciate the shade, what do you hope to accomplish by doing this?" Itachi questioned while calmly gazing up above his head with a cold look.

But Gaara just said two words, _**"Sand Hail." **_he said simply before the massive floating rock formation began separating into larger chunks and falling dangerously fast towards the ground- directly towards where Itachi was standing.

"_I can't dodge this." _Itachi informed himself before rapidly going through his hand-signs. _**"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" **_Itachi breathed out a volley of small fireballs that easily engulfed the chunks of sand and turned them into tiny shards of glass. Itachi simply raised his left arm so that he could protect his head while purposely letting the rest of his body get cut up by the tiny fragments of glass. Naruto and Gaara could only look at Itachi's sudden actions with suspicion.

"_Why did he let himself get hit so easily." _Naruto thought to himself. He could sense that something wasn't right ever since getting caught in the Uchiha's Genjutsu.

Gaara suddenly sent a large torrent of sand towards the unfazed Uchiha who now began to dodge it with grace and ease. He kept dodging and ducking underneath the sand and eventually made his way towards where the two Jinchuuriki's were standing. But just before Itachi got to them he was caught and wrapped up in sand immediately. "I have you now, _**Sand Burial!**_" Gaara yelled out clenching his fist. But to his horror, he didn't get a satisfactory squish that he was hoping for when he crushed Itachi. Instead, his sand exploded out in all directions and at the same time making his sand useless now.

"_Damn it was just a water clone that he blew up." _Gaara thought to himself before sensing danger from behind him. Quickly looking over his shoulder, he saw Itachi with a dead-panned expression whip out a kunai from his right sleeve and lunge towards the now vulnerable Kazekage. Luckily for Gaara, Itachi's attack was swiftly blocked by another kunai. Glancing to his right, he saw Naruto with a smirk on his face.

"Oh no you don't." Naruto stated proudly while gazing intently at Itachi's kunai.

"A commendable reaction indeed, however, what is your next move Nine-Tails?" Itachi asked mockingly before receiving several barbaric slashes towards him. He easily blocked them and countered with several blows of his own. Naruto, being not as skilled with ninja tools as Itachi, was quickly being overcome by Itachi's pressing attacks. Itachi smoothly slash downward onto Naruto's head making Naruto raise his arms up with his kunai to block his blow. "Too slow." Itachi stated simply before driving his right knee into Naruto's unguarded chest, knocking the wind out of him, and then -with inhuman speeds- followed up with a spinning back kick with his right foot while using his momentum from his last attack. Naruto was launched across the water, skipping across it like he was a pebble, until he finally was able to slow himself down.

"Ugh!" Naruto groaned in pain while gently rubbing his stomach in pain. Gaara had created some distance between he and Itachi during their little skirmish. Gaara didn't know what to do. Their opponent was way too skilled for any of them right now. He needed something, anything to help them if they had any hope of beating Itachi.

"_**I can help."**_ A voice murmured inside Gaara's head making him go wide-eyed in shock.

"_How?" _Gaara asked hesitantly. He was always cautious around his demon and because of that grew a large distrust with it.

"_**Don't be such a big baby! I'll just lend you some of my powers." **_Shukaku replied back seriously. This was no time to play around the Tanuki thought to himself.

Meanwhile Naruto was talking with his Tailed-Beast also. _"I didn't want to ask this but Fox, if you want me to save your friends, then lend me your strength!" _Naruto commanded to his prisoner.

But the Fox only growled in anger, _**"They are not my friends I told you!"**_

"Whatever, they're important enough to you to want to help them thought right?" Naruto replied back making the Fox shake his head in annoyance.

"_**Very well, I shall let you borrow some of my Chakra then." **_Kyuubi snorted before cutting their communication. _**"Like I said before, it's... complicated." **_He mumbled to himself before closing his eyes again.

Both Jinchuuriki's felt a sudden rush of energy flow through their whole system and both felt even stronger than before. Itachi noticed this and smirked at them, "It appears that you have finally decided to get serious." He nodded his head in amusement before readying himself with his kunai. Both Naruto and Gaara looked at one another in silent understanding before disappearing. Itachi was only able to dodge an overhead kick aimed for his head thanks to his Sharingan and was again forced to block an attack to his stomach by using both his arms to knock a punch away. "So you two have gotten faster I see. Although, as long as I have these eyes, you cannot hope to defeat me." Itachi said while struggling to dodge and block the attacks from two Shinobi's. Even thought he could see their movements, it was still a pain to keep up with their speed.

Gaara then launched his sand at Itachi forcing him to jump backwards a couple of meters before retracting his sand. Itachi, dumbfounded as to why Gaara would do such an action, realized to late that he had wanted him to be in that specific spot. Glancing down into the watery depths, he saw an unusually large Rasengan charging towards him. Coming to the conclusion that he wouldn't be able to dodge it by jumping to the side, his only hope was to jump straight up and hope that he could create some more distance between he and Naruto. When he did jump however, he noticed that a large column of sand had been created above him and was bearing down on top of him, crushing him if he did make contact with it. Knowing that any more attempts at escape was fruitless, Itachi stared directly into Naruto's eyes and grinned.

"_**Giant Rasengan!" "Sand Hail!" **_Both Naruto and Gaara yelled out before their Jutsu's collided with the Sharingan user. A blinding beam of light engulfed Itachi until he was covered in sand and smashed together. The sand covered figure then plummeted back down towards the water, motionless as could be. But Gaara halted his descent and layed the wrangled remains across the surface of the water evenly. When he did look at the dead body, he could prevent himself from gasping in shock.

Naruto had finally made it to where Gaara was standing and also looked at the disfigured corpse. He saw the body and he too also gasped in surprise.

"What- Who is that Gaara?" Naruto asked in disbelief. The person in front of them whom they had presumed to be Itachi was in fact another Shinobi.

"It's a body double." Gaara answered back straight forwardly receiving a look of confusion from Naruto. Sighing to himself, he expanded, "This was never Itachi to begin with. He was just a mere puppet and Itachi was his handler. That explains why when we fought him he seemed out of place." Gaara finalized. Naruto rubbed his chin in thought before replying back, "Ah ha! That makes sense. I thought there was something odd about Itachi while we were fighting him. It seemed like he was just toying with us." Naruto stated sadly knowing full well that even if both he and Gaara had tried their best, it would have been for nothing. "You truly are powerful." Naruto murmured while receiving a nod of agreement from his friend. "Wait, if he was just toying with us, then that means he was just a distraction!" Naruto realized. Instantly, Naruto turned his back towards Gaara and began racing across the water towards the direction of Yugito and Killer B.

"_Still hasty as ever I see." _Gaara mentally sighed to himself before sprinting after a now disappearing Naruto.

* * *

"Kakuzu, I could really use your help right about now!" Hidan pleaded to his fellow comrade who was currently finding enjoyment in watching his partner struggle against the two Jinchuuriki's.

"If I recall correctly earlier, you told me to "butt out" from helping you fight the cat bitch." Kakuzu informed a now regretful looking ex-Shinobi who was trying feebly to ward off the two Jinchuuriki's.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know! But now I'm fighting both the cat bitch and the squid man! I'm begging you as a friend that deep down inside your cold interior, there's a heartwarming soul inside." Hidan said playfully while dodging an uppercut and blocking a sword slash to his chest.

Kakuzu could only twitch his eyes in aggravation from hearing his partner's plead for help, but relented nevertheless. "Fine you sadistic fool, I shall help you," this made Hidan grin in triumph before he heard the rest of what Kakuzu had to say, "after you agree to give me half of your next earnings." Kakuzu leered making Hidan gape his mouth in complete disbelief.

"**WHAT?** You can't be freaking serious!" Hidan yelled out while momentarily getting free from his attackers. "Your my partner, aren't partner's suppose to help one another?" He screamed angrily at Kakuzu while pumping his fist towards him. Kakuzu just simply stared at his partners murderous riot before shrugging his shoulder in indifference- making Hidan even more furious. "Don't you shrug your shoulders at me pussy!" Hidan cried out finally getting a reaction from his comrade.

But Kakuzu only narrowed his eyes at his partner before pointing in the direction behind him. "Look out." He stated simply making Hidan hastily turn around and confront any danger that he was soon going to face. But it was too late. With a quick slash to the head, Killer B smoothly beheaded the loud-mouthed Shinobi, and let his head slowly roll of his body and sink down beneath the water's surface.

"I told him earlier that his "Immortality" would indeed be his downfall." Kakuzu muttered out emotionless. He watched his partner's body slump down and also begin to sink into the water. The two Jinchuuriki's now focused all their attention on the last standing Akatsuki member. They were puzzled as to why this man was as emotionless as he was, and why he didn't seem all too affected from the loss of his fellow partner.

Sensing their inquiries, he decided to enlighten them a little, "I will say it simply. He was not the first partner that I have witnessed killed before. As to why I care little for what just happened. I tended to be the person who killed them." Kakuzu finished before receiving a look of pure shock and disbelief from Yugito and B. "Unlike my former partner here, I am not as easily beaten compared to him." He warned while still glaring at the two Jinchuuriki's.

"_He can't be that powerful right? I mean other then protecting his comrade earlier, he hasn't done squat." _Yugito told herself before her thoughts were intruded by her friend, B.

"_True, he hasn't done nothing~! But he definitely is something~!" _B rapped out coherently making Yugito once again smile a bit from her fellow Jinchuuriki's horrible rapping skills.

"_At least it rhymes, kinda."_ Yugito thought humorously to herself before diverting her attention back at the dangerous looking man. Kakuzu watched both Jinchuuriki's with an intense stare before proceeding with his next move. Leaning forward, his back all of a suddenly ripped open releasing four large streams of blankets of threads that finally formed into four monstrous bodies with a mask for their faces. Yugito and B could only watch the scene with utter distaste. When he was finally done doing whatever he was doing, Kakuzu looked back up and cracked his knuckles in preparation.

"I'd like to introduce you to my five hearts, which includes myself personally." He said while bowing down to them. But the two Jinchuuriki's could only gape in fear at what they were seeing.

"_No way. He truly is immortal."_ Yugito whispered to herself while slowly beginning to shake in fear from the sudden realization.

"_**Calm down Yugito, no one is truly immortal, not even the man in front of us." **_Hachibi chimed in trying desperately to raise his fellow Jinchuuriki's morale up. _**"From what I see, we simply need to destroy the four monsters, and then the man himself will be considered mortal once again." **_Hachibi guessed making everyone listening to him nod in understanding.

"_But how, they don't look that weak."_ Yugito replied still surrounded by fear. B narrowed his eyes from behind his sunglasses and rubbed his chin in thought.

"Enough of this planning, attack or else I will do it for you!" Kakuzu yelled out in impatience while beginning to slowly walk towards the two Jinchuuriki's.

"Gah! This is gonna totally suck right now!" Yugito complained before flashing through several hand-signs. _"Hitsuji, Uma, Mi, Tatsu, Ne, Ushi, Tora!" _She listed out in her thoughts while kneading her Chakra into flames. _**"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!" **_She cried before releasing a large torrent of flames from her mouth that quickly took the shape of a dragon. The dragon then began to split into three different directions; left, right, and directly towards Kakuzu who could only gaze at the B-Rank Jutsu with indifference.

Then, one of his hearts instantly appeared right in front of him and opened its mouth. **"Water Style: Water Wall!" **Kakuzu commanded and swiftly after he said that his heart it released a circle of water made up densely of Chakra, and effectively protecting him from Yugito's powerful Jutsu. The Flaming Dragon soon hit the water wall from all three directions, quickly creating a very large mist from the reaction of the water and the fire. "I'm impressed that a Kumo Kunoichi would have the affinity for fire- let alone know how to produce a very powerful one at that." Kakuzu complimented Yugito while scanning his suddenly misty surroundings.

"_Damn, that really took a lot out of me." _Yugito huffed out before dropping down to one knee. _"I can't use the Nibi's Chakra just yet since I used it earlier against the other member." _Yugito closed her eyes and allowed herself some moment of rest because she knew that her other partner would pick up her slack since she was now almost spent from that last Jutsu.

Kakuzu was still gazing around calmly while slowly walking towards where Yugito had been seen previously. But that was when he realized too late that he had momentarily forgotten about the other Jinchuuriki.

"_**Lariat!" **_A male voice shouted before a loud smash could be heard from nearby his current position. Looking to his right, he saw one of his monsters crumple to the ground suddenly with a now shattered mask falling off of it.

"_Shit, I was now expecting that to happen at all!" _He cursed himself, _"Even worse, that freak was purposely aiming for that specific heart." _Kakuzu could only grit his teeth in frustration for letting such a simple slip-up possibly doom him now. He stared down at his water affinity heart with absolute hate. He managed to see the man responsible for destroying one of his five hearts. It was the Eight-Tails but now he was covered in his Chakra Cloak that only informed him that the man was now even more powerful than before. Taking his loss bitterly, he came up with a quick counter move. _"I have to get rid of this mist or else I'll be as useless as my partner."_ He declared before ordering one of his monsters to his left to use a Jutsu. _**"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!" **_He roared out just before his monster let loose a very high density tornado-like mass towards where B was currently standing at. B instinctively leapt into the sky hoping to dodge it, but was soon hit by the after wave of it once it depressurized viciously out in all directions.. After the immediate effects from the Jutsu, the whole mist that had covered the battlefield instantly disappeared. Meanwhile the body of water was forcibly pushed to the side of the nearby mountains creating gaping holes into them or outright destroying some before slowly receding to their original place. Yugito had managed to avoid most of the force from the Jutsu since she had quickly retreated to what she considered to be a safe distance from the battle. Even so, her body was still thrown back a couple of yards and she slammed roughly into a side of a mountain, making a small crater into it.

Killer B was less fortunate since he was closer to the blast. When he hit a mountain side, he completely went through it and went halfway through another before he had completely stopped. _"Ugh, thank Kami for my Chakra Cloak." _B muttered before getting a mental slap from his Tailed-Beast.

"_**Idiot, be more careful next time! That attack actually hurt!" **_Hachibi proclaimed while slowly healing B's wounds. B looked forward and could see Kakuzu standing in the middle of the water with his eyes closed and arms crossed.

"Give up already demons, you have no hope of defeating me!" Kakuzu stated with a confident tone. Yugito could only hiss at him with infuriation and clench her fist in anger. B was content with just staring at him with a stoic look on his face. But behind his sunglasses, his eyes were burning with rage.

"_That is it~! We need it~!" _B told his Tailed-Beast, and Hachibi unconsciously understood what he meant. In mere seconds, B had fully transformed himself into the _**Full Tailed-Beast Form **_and climbed out of the hole had made into the mountain.

Yugito saw this and grumbled to herself that she only needed a little more time before she could show off her true powers also.

Kakuzu caught sight of him in the corner of his eyes and began to sweat a little. He knew the capabilities of the Eight-Tails but he didn't expect to face the full powers of it. _"I'm going to have to give it my all or else I will die." _He stuttered to himself before ordering all of his monsters to engage the fully formed Eight-Tails. Without a moments hesitation, all four of them sped off to engage the powerful Jinchuuriki. The Eight-Tails attacked the monsters, who were in mid-air, with his enormous tentacles trying desperately to knock at least one of them out from the sky. But they were too nimble and dodged his attempts while countering with their own barrages of their own. Fortunately for the Eight-Tails, the attacks didn't seriously harm him but they did annoy the living hell out of him!

Out of nowhere, a large fully formed blue Chakra shaped clawed slashed downward towards Kakuzu who instinctively was able to dodge it, and avoid being crushed by it. "Why won't you die already?" He yelled in exasperation. She just wouldn't die no matter how hard he tried to kill her. Hidan earlier was able to to cut a nasty gash into the side of her body and was even able to slice one of her vitals. No matter, she was able to recuperate from it, with help from the Two-Tails Kakuzu could only guess. And, yes it would usually have been a guaranteed victory for the pair of immortals since Hidan was able to perform his Jashin Ritual Curse that made the blood of his recipient feel and suffer the same pain that he self-inflicted. Unfortunately, he couldn't perform it since the ritual needed a symbol to be drawn into the ground. Alas, the ground that they were fighting on was made up of water, and the blood would naturally dissolve in it. Again, making his partner even more useless.

"You know you can't kill a cat with one blow alone. I still have eight lives left if I remember right." Yugito said while winking at Kakuzu who was now getting quite frustrated with the Jinchuuriki.

"_I can't keep dodging her attacks. She too fast and I'm gettin-"_ He couldn't complete his thought when one of Nibi's tails exploded out from under the water and pierced his heart that was located at the back of his body. Coughing out blood, Kakuzu forced himself to look up into Yugito's eyes and return his own glare that showed disbelief and fury. "I should have seen that coming. Such lowly tactic for any Shinobi. It seems you ninja's can only attack from the behind." He coughed out before his legs gave out from under and his body fell lifelessly into the water.

But Yugito looked at Kakuzu's floating body with disgust, "No, it is you that is lowly. Stealing hearts so that you may live a little longer with your pathetic life." She spat out to a now dead Kakuzu before returning back to normal now that she had spent almost, if not all, her Chakra.

Meanwhile by B, he was quickly tiring of trying to hit one of the many flying targets until he caught a break. He managed to grasp onto two of the three monsters when, to his bewilderment, they abruptly stopped dead in their tracks allowing for him to grab two of them. The last one quickly sped off back towards where Kakuzu was now floating lifelessly along the surface of the water. Temporarily ignoring the last one, the Eight-Tails quickly formed a _**Tailed-Beast Ball **_and released it towards the two hopeless monsters who were soon obliterated by the powerful technique created from the Tailed-Beast.

The last monster had finally reached its destination and instantly dove into the back of its medium, essentially bringing the once dead Kakuzu back to life. Yugito, not expecting this to happen, could only frown in displeasure from the thought of once again having to fight the immortal Akatsuki member.

After several disturbing twitches and and grunts of pain, Kakuzu slowly picked himself up from the water and and began testing his motor functions. Satisfied that everything seemed to be in order, Kakuzu glanced back up towards a now exhausted looking Yugito and began to chuckle. "It seems your all spent, bitch." He growled while emphasizing the derogatory slang at the very drained looking Kunoichi.

"Yeah, and your on your last life." She countered while suddenly grasping her left side of her body where Hidan had sliced her earlier. She knew why it was starting to hurt her again. She was out of Chakra and it was also too soon to start using the Two-Tails Chakra to heal her wounds after repeatedly using it twice in such a short amount of time. Kakuzu could only glare at her in anger. It was true, there was no way he would be able to fight both her and the Eight-Tails, even if she was weakened. Then there were those other two Jinchuuriki. He knew that those two must have defeated the fake Itachi by now and were bound to be where they were at in a matter of time. Growling to himself, he decided that his best and only chance for survival was to hightail it out of there. Turning his head to the left, he noticed the Eight-Tails beginning to get closer and closer to where he was and quickly decided to leave immediately. Without another word to Yugito, he launched himself towards the opposite direction and began fleeing for his life. Yugito, trying to pursue him, only managed to make it two steps before she collapsed onto one knee in exhaustion and pain. Moments later, Killer B leapt over her now in his Chakra Cloak, and gave her a comforting gesture while mid-air before turning his head back to the now fleeting Akatsuki member.

"_If I can make it beyond these mountains, then I'm home free!" _Kakuzu told himself. He quickly sped up and was now slowly distancing himself from Killer B even though he was faster than he normally was without the Chakra Cloak. It was then he noticed a speeding figure coming straight at him over several mountains with inhuman speeds, and who looked to be covered in... Lightning Chakra? _"There is only one person, or should I say Kage, who is able to cover himself with Lightning Chakra." _Kakuzu told himself. If it was indeed the person he was thinking then this was truly the end for him. But not giving up yet, he focused all his Chakra into hardening his bodies tendrils and hoping that it would be enough to sustain a direct him from the Raikage. When A was on top of him, Kakuzu instantly knew that it was the end of him. Closing his eyes, he thought about being able to finally fulfill his last wish before he died. Ironically enough, it was to free himself of his immortality since he was too greedy to bring himself to end it personally.

"_**Guillotine Drop!" **_A yelled before performing a deadly downward kick that immediately shattered Kakuzu's last heart and sent him careening down into the Earth several thousand feet below him.

B stopped abruptly, landing softly beside his brother on top of one of several mountains located in Kumo. "A, how did yo-" B was interrupted by his brother who impulsively punched him in the face, knocking him down into the ground a couple of feet under. Without even waiting for B to get up, A flickered in front of him and grabbed him by the collar.

"You fool! Why would you attack two S-Rank ninja's alone without informing me!" A yelled while continuing to berate his brother about how immature he was and shaking him violently so that his head was moving in all directions.

"But-But I wasn't alone!" B pleaded, trying to calm his brother down a notch. But this only made A even more furious.

"WHAT? You not only risked your life but another Kumo Shinobi's?" He yelled in disbelief. Seeming to get angrier and angrier the more B explained himself.

"_Hachibi, help me please!" _B begged mentally to himself only to be answered with silence from the Eight-Tails.

Knowing that he wasn't going to win this argument, he decided to use a fool-proof plan, and cowardly plan, but fool-proof nonetheless. "It was Yugito's idea." B mumbled making A narrow his eyes even more.

"From how I see it, both of you are at equal faults!" The Raikage squawked. "And because of your little heroics, both of you are confined to house arrest for as long as I say so!" He finalized.

B could handle being in house arrest because he had experienced it several times throughout his life. It was Yugito who made this whole punishment infinitely more worse than it should have been. She could not for the life of her keep still, let alone being confined in tiny spaces. That's why everyday she would travel around Kumo and stretch her legs a bit. Now since that was being taken away, she would use all that pent up energy and anger, and direct it all towards him. B could only pale with fear in anticipation to how Yugito would react to the news. It would probably be very, very negative and it would be aimed all at him.

Naruto and Gaara had been running after Yugito and Killer B for a while until they came upon a destroyed battlefield. Studying their surroundings and looking underneath the rising morning sun, Naruto quickly pointed out towards a lone figure limping across the water in front of them. Nodding to one another, they both jumped to where the person was.

Naruto was surprised to see that the person was Yugito, and from the looks of it, she seemed to be in very bad shape. Looking up, she was able to picture out both Naruto and Gaara coming towards her quickly. With a sigh of relief, she fainted into the careful arms of Naruto who delicately caught her and tried his best to hold her as comfortably as possible. Gazing down at her peaceful face, he couldn't stop himself from chuckling. _"She really does look like a cat."_ He thought before glancing around the battle area. From what he could see, there was no one else but them. He looked back at Gaara who silently nodded his confirmation that the two Akatsuki members had indeed been defeated by these two Jinchuuriki. Sighing to himself, he lifted both himself and Yugito up bridal style and began to travel back to Kumo.

"So where do you think Octopops is?" Naruto asked making Gaara raise an eyebrow at the unusual name.

"Who?" Gaara asked calmly unsure to whom Naruto was talking about.

"Eight-Tails. You know, Octopops." Naruto explained while mimicking his hands from underneath Yugito to act like small tentacles.

Gaara could only frown at Naruto's odd nickname choice but immediately thought little into it. "Well since Yugito appears to still be alive, I can only presume that the Eight-Tails would be alive also." Gaara suggested while receiving a nod of understanding from Naruto.

"That makes sense." Naruto whispered, still a little worried for him, before turning his attention on getting back to Kumo as quickly as possible.

"_**Hachibi is fine Naruto." **_Kyuubi answered reassuringly much to Naruto's wonder.

"_How do you know for sure?" _Naruto questioned hesitantly before hearing a snort of agitation coming from inside the cage.

"_**I know because I have been talking to him for the last ten minutes!"**_The Fox exclaimed while giving Naruto his killer eye.

"_Oh right, I forgot you guys can do that." _Naruto replied sheepishly. He then appeared inside his mindscape and walked directly in front of Kyuubi's cage. This made him raise an eyebrow in curiosity. _"Thanks for giving me some Chakra earlier." _Naruto admitted making the Demon Fox narrow his eyes at the unpredictable blonde-haired brat.

"_**I only did that for my own benefit. So don't get all soft on me foolish child." **_Kyuubi responded back. This kid could sure get on his nerves sometimes and it wasn't helping that he was starting to respect the boy's personality more and more.

"_Keep thinking that way Fox, but someday I will free you and rid you of your hate." _Naruto said shocking the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox.

The Fox recovered however and retorted, _**"Hmph, leave me in peace boy." **_The Fox muttered before kicking Naruto out of his mindscape. _**"Why of all people did I have to be trapped in him?" **_The Fox thought to himself before walking towards the back of his cage and disappearing into the darkness.

* * *

**~Entrance to Kumo~**

Naruto and Gaara finally made it back to Kumo, and by then the sun had gotten a lot higher than it had been before. Naruto dropped off Yugito to a group of Kumo Shinobi's who were guarding the entrance to the Hidden Cloud Village. The Shinobi's then had a message for them from the Raikage himself. He ordered them to rest for the remainder of the day and that training would begin the following day. Naruto and Gaara were thankful for the order and walked back to where they were staying, both of them slightly limping from both pain and weariness.

Temari woke up to the sight of sunlight flooding into her bedroom. She was surprised that she had slept so soundly, and noticed when she got out of bed that she felt energized and refreshed. Hearing the sound of the front door opening, she concluded that that Naruto was finally up or that Gaara had finally come back home from his nightly walk. Yawning, she stretched out her arms into the air and cheerfully walked out of her bedroom with a skip in her stride. She didn't get a good look at the interior of the building while she was busy dragging Naruto inside until now. She had to admit that even thought it was fancy and what she presumed to be high quality, she was still homesick. Shaking her head from the thought she finally made it to the entrance of the compound where she was met with a curious scene. There, leaning against the wall, was both Naruto and Gaara struggling mightily to hold themselves up. She decided to inquire about what just happened and spoke up in a happier than normal tone, "Geez, what happened to you guys? You both look like you just fought all night." She pointed out making both Naruto and Gaara sigh in unison before both of them collapsed in utter exhaustion. _"Huh? Was it something I said?"_ Temari thought to herself before shrugging her shoulders and walking into the kitchen to make herself some nice hot tea for herself.

* * *

_**~Akatsuki Lair~**_

"It would appear that both Hidan and Kakuzu failed miserably to acquire the Two-Tails even with the help of a weakened Itachi Uchiha." A woman informed several Shinobi's who all surrounded a strange demonic looking statue.

"Yes, they're deaths are but a slight speed bump to our plans. It would have been easier if we had managed to capture the Two-Tails but at least we do have a conciliation prize." The leader said before lifting an unconscious body up from below them. "At least one of our two-man team's was able to capture a Jinchuuriki." He muttered disdainfully to himself. While a certain shark skinned swordsman grinned and elbowed his partner in glee.

"This is no time to be celebrating Kisame Hoshigaki." An emotionless looking figure with red pinwheel eyes murmured to his partner.

"Aren't you ever gonna show any emotions Itachi?" Kisame questioned before being answered with a slight shake of the head from the young Uchiha. "Then let me celebrate damn it!" Kisame growled before giving everyone in the group a wink and a piece of his mind, his middle finger to be exact. Itachi could only envelope his face with his hand in disgrace.

"Enough fooling around!" The leader yelled making Kisame reluctantly stop his immature show of accomplishment. "Since we have been forced to skip a couple of steps, this process of extracting the Four-Tails will take twice as long than it normally would." Every Akatsuki member gazed at their leader questioningly and nervously before he finished what he was saying, "It will take four days!" Everyone obnoxiously groaned from hearing that they would be forced to stand completely still for four freaking days in a row.

"Still happy now Kisame?" Itachi asked sarcastically while turning to his partner whose eyes were now twitching uncontrollably. This gave Itachi a sense of amusement from seeing his partner in so much distress. Itachi could handle meditating the whole way through the process. But Kisame was a whole different type of beast.

"Screw you Uchiha." Kisame cursed with as much hatred as he could in those three words before he began to prepare himself for the long process. Itachi could only smirk a bit before preparing himself.

Throughout this conversation between the two members, a masked man, hiding nearby, was watching it closely and running through his own devious thoughts. _"Have your little fun Itachi. For your end is near." _The man stated in his thoughts before subtly revealing a fully matured Sharingan from underneath his mask.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I do admit that Hidan and Kakuzu were killed somewhat ingloriously but I tried my best and like I said before, writing combat scenes is definitely not my forte.** **This is some answers for my reviews.**

**-I'm glad the reaction for Naruto and Temari as a couple has been more or less positive. And it pleases me to know that you guys think this story is unique. Again, I _TRY_ to keep it as realistic as possible (try being the keyword) and most importantly as enjoyable as possible also.**

**-YES! I finally fixed that Konoho issue and changed it to the correct word KONOHA. Thanks again guys.**

**-Yugito is indeed a... interesting character to write about.**

**Hope you enjoyed the Chapter and remember to REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. And again, until next time ciao!**


End file.
